Several people are reported to have been killed in a shooting in Hamburg in Germany.
Police said in a tweet that a large-scale operation was underway in the Alsterdorf area.
According to Hamburg police, the shooting took place at a church on Deelböge Street in the Gros Borstel district.
Local media identified the location as a Jehovah’s Witness centre.
In a statement on Twitter police said: “There is no reliable information on the motive for the crime” and they appealed to the public not to share assumptions or to spread rumours.
Ambulances were at the scene and German police were searching for the attackers, a local media outlet reported.
Reuters is quoting Bild newspaper’s report that at least seven people have been killed and another eight have been injured.
A federal warning was sent on the NINAwarn app at around 9pm local time telling locals that “one or more unknown perpetrators shot at people in a church”.
Residents nearby were told not to leave their homes amid the ongoing operation.
Source: www.rnz.co.nz