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Witnesses told how a packed shopping mall was turned into a horrific bloodbath as marauding gunmen brought more death to the streets of Europe.

At least six people were killed and many more injured when three thugs opened fire at the Olympia centre in Munich – just eight days after the Bastille Day massacre in Nice.

Shoppers and staff fled for their lives as bullets flew in the chaos, which police described as an “acute terror threat”. Officers placed the city in lockdown.

Dramatic footage emerged of one of the gunmen callously shooting at a group of ­youngsters and an elderly man as they cowered outside a McDonald’s restaurant.

Witnesses reportedly heard him screaming: “Ich bin Deutsch, scheiss Ausländer” – “I’m German, f*** foreigners” before opening fire.

The stockily built man appeared to be carrying ammunition around his waist and was seen staggering as he fires.

Public transport was suspended, the main train station was closed and ­residents were ordered to stay indoors as police launched a huge manhunt for the gunmen. There were unconfirmed reports at least one attacker had shot himself in the head. Another was said to have fled to the nearby tube station.

Expat Christopher Jones, who lives nearby, said: “I saw dozens of people running out of the centre coming towards me and I asked what was happening.

“They said shots had been fired and so I returned home. But I could still hear shots being fired when I got back. There were helicopters overhead and sirens.”

Shop workers at the centre – the biggest in Bavaria – were ordered to remain inside as police searched for the killers. One staff member told German radio from inside a store: “Many shots were fired, I can’t say how many but it’s been a lot. All the people from outside came streaming into the store and I only saw one person on the ground who was so severely injured that he definitely didn’t survive. We’re just staying in the back in the storage rooms. No police have approached us yet.

Student Thamina Stoll tweeted a video of the scene showing people running. She wrote: “Helicopter, sirens and people on the street. At least 30 police cars on their way to the mall according to radio. Area around mall blocked by police.”

A worker at a nearby petrol station posted: “People were running away. The whole area has been evacuated and the nearby roads and U-Bahn station shut off. The people were very scared.” Islamic State-related social media accounts shared reports of the attack, but reports in German newspaper Bild suggested right-wing extremists were behind the bloodshed.

The atrocity came on the fifth ­anniversary of the massacre in Norway by Nazi thug Anders Breivik who blew up 11 people in Oslo before murdering 69 revellers at a Workers’ Youth League summer camp on the island of Utoya.

As police swept into the shopping mall one victim could be seen covered in a silver sheet outside the main entrance.

Witnesses said a heavily armed gunman had run inside and opened fire indiscriminately on ­terrified shoppers as they dived for cover. Teams of armed officers sealed off the area.

A Munich police spokeswoman said: “We are dealing with a shooting rampage. We believe there was more than one ­perpetrator. The first reports came at 6pm, the shooting apparently began at a ­McDonald’s. There are still people in the shopping centre. We are trying to get the people out and take care of them.

“The search for the perpetrators is running at full speed. Due to the still unclear situation we ask all people in the urban area to stay at home or to search in nearby buildings protection.”

Another officer said later: “Our priority is to catch the attackers at this stage. We are doing what we can. We are urging people to stay indoors. There are people who have been traumatised by this and they are in the double figures.

“We have to treat this as a form of terror attack as it is an attack with weapons but as to what is behind it we do not know yet as we have not caught them.”

A ­makeshift emergency centre was set up at the scene to treat the most seriously injured. Hundreds of people took to Twitter with the hashtag OffeneTür - or ­OpenDoor – inviting people to stay with them if they are unable to get home. ­Facebook’s Safety Check feature was also activated so people can let friends and family know that they are OK. The Foreign Office said it was “urgently ­investigating an incident in Munich and stands ready to provide assistance to British Nationals”.

It urged Brits to avoid the area and to follow local advice.

Germany has been on high alert since Afghan refugee Muhammad Riyad went on an axe rampage on a train in Bavaria before being shot dead by police.