Dutch police have arrested 12 Somalis suspected of plotting a "terrorist" attack in the Netherlands.

The suspects - between the ages of 19 and 48 - were arrested in the city of Rotterdam late on Friday after a warning message was received from AIVD, the Dutch intelligence and security service, prosecutors said in a statement.

"The [AIVD] message reports that a number of Somalis wanted to make a terrorist attack in the Netherlands in the short term," it said.

Police search

A telephone shop and four houses in the city of Rotterdam were searched, as well as two motel rooms in Gilze-Rijen, a village in the south of the country.

But no weapons or explosives were found.

Six of the suspects lived in Rotterdam, five did not have a permanent home address and one was from Denmark, according to the prosecutors.