German prosecutors said on Wednesday they had charged four people with setting up a far-right organization that planned to carry out attacks on Muslim communities and refugees.

The three German men and a woman, aged between 57 and 23, started up a cell, known by the English name of Oldschool Society, in late 2014 and planned to carry out arson and nail-bomb attacks in May 2015, prosecutors said in a statement.

The target was a shelter housing asylum seekers, near the town of Borna, some 30 km (19 miles) from the eastern city of Leipzig. The attack never took place.

"At a first meeting of the group in mid-November 2014 it was discussed how to manufacture explosives as well as attacks against Salafists and asylum seekers," the statement said.

For that purpose, two of the accused travelled to the Czech Republic to purchase pyrotechnic explosives on the black market. The members tried to work out ways of increasing the power of the explosives they bought.

The four were held awaiting trial.

There are almost daily attacks on refugee centres in Germany, which last year allowed in 1.1 million asylum seekers.