Munich - Security measures at Munich's Oktoberfest beer festival were ramped up on Monday, after recent videos linked to al-Qaeda threatened attacks on Germany following the previous day's general election.

In recent weeks, seven videos have been published on the internet, some of which threatened attacks on sites including the Oktoberfest if Germany did not withdraw its troops from the NATO-led mission in Afghanistan.

As a result, the police set up a security cordon surrounding the festival in central Munich, which annually attracts six million visitors to the Bavarian capital.

Access to the secure area had been restricted to delivery vehicles and residents, Bavarian police and senior politicians said. Taxi access had also been limited, and festival-goers were being subjected to increased bag checks.

Two suspected Islamists were also arrested in Munich, Police President Wilhelm Schmidbauer said, adding that these were purely preventative measures as the men had not committed any offences.

The two men, said to originate from Arab countries, were believed to belong to an extremist milieu, the police said.

Both men, who have lived for many years in Germany, previously had contact to a known German al-Qaeda member, Bekkay Harrach, the police said.

They are to be held in custody until the end of the Oktoberfest, on October 4.

In one of the recent security videos Harrach had said Germany would experience a "rude awakening" during the two weeks after the elections if its troops did not leave Afghanistan.

Security agents said they did not have details of possible terrorist targets in Germany. However Schmidbauer said the Okoberfest had been specifically mentioned in one of the videos. (dpa)