SPECIAL forces troops have arrested a suspected ISIS supporter following a sickening plot to derail high-speed trains in Europe.

The 42-year-old Iraqi, living in Vienna, is said to have twice stretched steel cables above and across tracks in neighbouring Germany.

3 Police search a high-speed railway line between Munich and Nuremberg last October after a steel cable was stretched between electrification masts Credit: DPA/PA

Austrian cops say in both cases an "intruder" had interfered with the tracks in a bid to cause a deadly and shocking derailment.

News of the alleged terror plot follows an al-Qaeda appeal urging its fanatical followers to derail "vulnerable" trains and comes days after ISIS was crushed in Syria.

Describing last year's alleged plot, German cops said a steel cable had been stretched over tracks on a stretch of track between Nuremberg and Munich.

Concrete blocks were also placed on and near the rails two months later, although nobody was hurt.

On October 7, a high-speed Intercity-Express (ICE) train had driven over the obstacles, although amazingly it only suffered minor damage.

A threatening letter written in Arabic was found near the scene of the attack, as well as writings linked to ISIS.



MURDER CHARGES

Two months later, Berlin cops reported a similar attack on a railway line in the suburb of Karlshorst.

They found damage to the overhead line equipment and similar writings in Arabic as well as an ISIS flag.

Local newspaper Kronen Zeitung reports the father-of- five served for 15 years in the Iraqi army and was living in Austria as a refugee while working for a security company.

The 42-year-old was arrested on Monday and prosecutors said he is suspected of "carrying out terrorist attacks on railway lines in Germany in October and December 2018."

Prosecutors said then man in custody is suspected of attempted murder, causing serious damage to property, membership in a terrorist organisation and dangerous interference in railway traffic.

Bavaria's Interior Minister, Joachim Herrmann, reportedly praised the "excellent international co-operation" in a press release, and said the investigation was going "at full speed" to establish the facts.

The arrest comes just days after German police arrested 10 people on suspicion of planning an Islamist attack.