UPDATE 3 - Armed man shot dead by police near Israel’s consulate general in Munich

UPDATES WITH NEW DETAILS, CHANGES HEADLINE, EDITS THROUGHOUT

By Anadolu staff

BERLIN (AA) - German police shot dead a suspect on Thursday on a street near Israel’s Consulate General in Munich, Bavaria’s interior minister has said.

"The man was carrying a long gun and had fired a number of shots,” Joachim Herrmann told reporters, adding that police forces were alerted and responded to the threat very quickly.

The minister said the incident occurred near a museum on the Nazi regime’s crimes, which was close to the American cultural center Amerikahaus, and Israel’s Consulate General in the city center.

“He said the suspect’s motive was not immediately clear, and a thorough investigation was underway to gather more information.

”But it is obvious that if someone parks his car directly in sight of the Israeli Consulate General, and then walks around the building with a gun and starts shooting, it is certainly, or with a high degree of probability, cannot be a coincidence,” Herrmann said.

Munich police department’s spokesman Andreas Franken told reporters that the suspect was a 18-year-old Austrian citizen, but declined to give any further details due to ongoing investigations.

”The investigation is still ongoing, and we will give further information at a later stage in coordination with the public prosecutor's office,” he said.

Public broadcasters WDR, NDR and Süddeutsche Zeitung daily reported earlier that the suspect was known to authorities as a religious extremist.

The streets around Israel’s Consulate General were cordoned off by police after the shooting, and special police units were deployed in the area as a precaution.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry said no diplomats or staff were hurt in the incident.

It said the Consulate General was already closed to commemorate the death of Israeli athletes in an attack by a Palestinian group during the 1972 Olympics in Munich.

*Ahmed Asmar contributed to this news story from Ankara