Several shots have been fired in the eastern German city of Halle, leaving two people dead, police said on Wednesday.

The exact target of the attack was not clear, since it took place near both a synagogue and a kebab shop, local media and witnesses said.

Police said in a tweet that the suspects fled in a car, and soon after reported that one person had been arrested.

They gave no information about the arrested person or reasons why they thought the attack could have been carried out by more than one person.

Officers were out in force across the city hunting down the suspects and urged residents to stay at home or indoors.

The railway station in Halle, a city of 240,000, was closed down as a precaution.

Pictures from the scene showed a body lying in the street behind a police cordon.

News agency dpa reported the body was lying opposite a synagogue, about 30 metres from the building. Wednesday is the Jewish holy day of Yom Kippur.

A video clip broadcast by regional public broadcaster MDR showed a man in a helmet and an olive-coloured top getting out of a car and firing four shots from behind the vehicle from a long-barrelled gun.

It was not clear what he was shooting at.

A man interviewed on n-tv television said he had been in a kebab shop when he saw a man with a helmet and a military jacket fire shots into the shop.

Police said shots were also fired in Landsberg, about 10 miles from Halle.

It was not clear whether that shooting was related to the shooting in Halle.

Chancellor Angela Merkel’s spokesman, Steffen Seibert, lamented what he called “terrible news from Halle”, but government officials said they had no information on the attack.