A pair of wild boars injured at least four people when they went on a rampage through a shopping precinct in the northern German town of Heide.

Loading

Authorities warned people to stay indoors after the adult boars appeared early on Friday and attacked pedestrians.

"One of them, a boar said to weigh 50 kilograms, walked several times into the savings bank until it succeeded in setting itself in front of the savings bank," Itzehoe Police spokeswoman Merle Neufeld said.

"Two squad cars stopped it. Finally, a hunter was called, in who killed the animal with a shot.

"It is currently believed that a person has lost a finger, or it has been bitten off."

The second boar remains on the loose.

Witness Benita Mengel said the encounter with the boar caused "heart palpitations up to the point of deafness".

"You know, boars, they are no fun," she said.

"[I got] weak knees, weak feet, it was extremely upsetting.

"I don't want to have them [those feelings of fear] again."

One witness told public broadcaster NDR that the boars had come "out of nowhere".

Heide is 100 kilometres north-west of Hamburg, near Germany's North Sea coast and the border with Denmark.

AP