6 killed as gunshots rock German shopping mall

German police are engaged in a huge anti-terror manhunt in the city of Munich after six people died in a shopping mall shooting.

The attackers are said to be on the run. Witnesses said they had seen three with guns. Police urged people to avoid public places.

Shop workers are still in the mall, in the north-western Moosach district. Public transport has been suspended.

The Bavarian capital’s central railway station has been evacuated.

“Train service has been completely shut down,” Deutsche Bahn, German train operator, said.

Trains from all directions around the Bavarian capital were stopped before they could enter the city.

The local public transportation operator MVG also said that additional local city transportation via underground, tram and bus has also been suspended.

Police ordered public transportation in Munich to be stopped, a spokesman for MVG says.

The Deputy spokesman for the Munich Police Department, Thomas Baumann, said several people were killed on Friday in a shooting at the Olympia shopping centre in Munich.

“We are expecting several dead; several others had also been injured. The shooter or shooters has not been captured and the motive for the attack remains unclear,” he said.

“Police had received a call around 6 p.m. but the shooting had started at about 5.52 p.m. at a fast-food restaurant in the shopping centre.”

Police cordoned off the area near Munich’s Olympic Park as officers rushed to the scene from all over the city.

Police and emergency vehicles could be seen outside the shopping centre. Helicopters were flying over the city.

The authorities had asked residents to stay indoors and avoid public places. Underground trains were suspended in the city.

Heavily-armed police also rushed to the city centre, where a panic had broken out and people ran from the pedestrian area to the central Karlsplatz, also known as Stachus.

There had been a false alarm, police said, but authorities still weren’t sure what the situation was in the city centre.

Meanwhile, Bavarian Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann was on his way to the capital of the southern German state.

The Olympia shopping centre was opened in 1972 when Munich hosted the Summer Olympics.

It is located in the middle of a residential area, two underground stops away from the Olympic stadium.