German police commandos stormed a KLM passenger jet at Cologne/Bonn airport and arrested two men after terror suicide notes were allegedly found at their homes.

Flight KL1804 bound for Amsterdam had received permission to take off but police reversed that decision, boarded the aircraft and detained a 23-year-old Somali man and a 24-year-old German citizen born in Somalia.

All passengers were told to get off the plane to identify their luggage and the bags of the two arrested men were taken away. A police spokesman declined to say whether the men resisted arrest. The flight finally departed for Amsterdam with a delay of one hour and 10 minutes.

"This morning at Cologne Bonn airport at around 0655 two men were detained in an aircraft shortly before take-off," police said in a statement.

"A 23-year-old Somali national and a 24-year-old German citizen born in Mogadishu are under suspicion of wanting to take part in a jihad and in possible attacks. Farewell letters to that effect were left behind."

The arrests come one year after three terror suspects - two German converts to Islam and a Turkish national - were arrested in Germany in September 2007 on suspicion of plotting bomb attacks on Frankfurt airport and the US military air base at Ramstein.

In a separate case, Germany's BKA federal police force this week appealed for the public's help in the hunt for two other terror suspects, German Eric Breininger and Lebanese-born Houssain al-Malla, who are believed to be planning an attack in Germany.

Mr Breininger, 21, from the town of Neunkirchen in southwestern Germany, converted to Islam and trained in camps in the border region between Afghanistan and Pakistan. Several videos of Mr Breininger threatening to launch a suicide attack and posing with terrorists have been posted on the internet this year.

Authorities said they had no indication of any specific targets for a terror attack.

Times Recommends

• Should Knox’s trial even have reached the courtroom?
• 'Was it real?' The US bailout nightmare
• Iranian opposition plays the long game