Munich: A lone gunman opened fire in a busy shopping centre in the German city of Munich on Friday evening, killing at least 10 people and sending shoppers running for their lives in the third attack against civilians in Western Europe in eight days.
Authorities told the public to get off the streets as the city – Germany's third biggest – went into lock down with transport halted and highways sealed off.
Munich Police issued a statement on Twitter that the suspected gunman is dead, having shot himself in the head.
It is believed he was the only shooter.
Earlier reports suggested there had been three shooters.
The Bavarian capital was placed under a state of emergency as police hunted for the shooter and special forces deployed in the city. "We are telling the people of Munich there are shooters on the run who are dangerous," a police spokesman said. "We are urging people to stay indoors".
At the height of the incident, people in the Olympia shopping centre either fled or sought to hide.
"Many shots were fired, I can't say how many but it's been a lot," said a shop worker hiding in a store room inside the mall.
It was the third major act of violence against civilians in Western Europe in eight days. Previous attacks in France and Germany were claimed by the Islamic State militant group.
A police spokesman said there was no immediate indication that it was an Islamist attack but it was being treated as a terrorist incident.
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said the motive for the attack was not yet clear.
"The motives for this abhorrent act have not yet been completely clarified – we still have contradictory clues," Steinmeier said in a statement.
The shopping centre is next to the Munich Olympic stadium, where the Palestinian militant group Black September took 11 Israeli athletes hostage and eventually killed them during the 1972 Olympic Games.
Friday's attack took place a week after a 17-year-old asylum-seeker assaulted passengers on a German train with an axe.
Bavarian police shot dead the teenager after he wounded four people from Hong Kong on the train and injured a local resident while fleeing.
German Justice Minister Heiko Maas told Bild newspaper's Friday edition before the mall attack that there was "no reason to panic but it's clear that Germany remains a possible target".
The incidents in Germany follow an attack in Nice, France, on July 14 in which a Tunisian drove a truck into crowds celebrating Bastille Day, killing 84. Islamic State claimed responsibility for that attack.
The Munich assault was also reminiscent of Islamist militant attacks in a shopping mall in Nairobi, Kenya, in September 2013 and in Mumbai, India, in November 2008.
