Updated 4.33pm 

Hundreds of police including specialist commandos combed a residential area of the eastern German city of Chemnitz today for a Syrian-born man suspected of planning a bomb attack, after failing to find him in a raid on an apartment.

Police appealed to the public to call them with any information on Jaber Albakr, 22, who was last seen wearing a black hooded top with a bright pattern on the front.

The police deployment followed a tip-off from the domestic intelligence service, though the "where, when, how and why" of the planned attack remained unclear, said Tom Bernhardt, spokesman for the Saxony state criminal investigation office.

Police found traces of explosives in the apartment in the Fritz-Heckert neighbourhood, Bernhardt said. They asked local residents to remain indoors.

"The cordoned-off area is so wide that we can almost rule out a threat to the local population," Bernhardt said.

He said it was unclear how many suspects might be involved.

In late July, Islamic State claimed responsibility for attacks on a train near Wuerzburg and at a music festival in Ansbach which wounded 20 people