The attacker entered the station in the western town of Linz am Rhein at 2:40 am, Koblenz prosecutors said in a statement.

The man shouted “Allahu Akbar” (“God is Greatest”) and said he wanted to “kill police officers”, prosecutors said.

Officers on site locked the entrance door and a door leading to the inner courtyard of the police station, leaving the man trapped.

“The accused is said to have tried to open them by force… but was unsuccessful,” prosecutors said.

Special forces were alerted to the situation and neutralised the attacker using a taser.

Initial enquiries revealed “evidence of a radical Islamist motive”, prosecutors said.

During a search of his home, investigators found the emblem of the Islamic State group drawn on the wall.

The Albanian suspect remained under arrest and investigations were ongoing, prosecutors said.

German security services have been on high alert for Islamist attacks since the Gaza war erupted on October 7 with the Hamas attacks on Israel.

Germany has been hit by several such attacks in recent years, with the most deadly being a truck rampage at a Berlin Christmas market in 2016 that killed 12 people.

On Thursday, a man was shot dead by police after opening fire on officers in what was being treated as a suspected “terrorist attack” on the Israeli consulate.

Three people were also killed last month in a suspected Islamist stabbing at a festival.