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STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Police on Monday shot and injured a man at the central station in Malmo in southern Sweden after witnesses said he made threats and claimed to be carrying explosives and firearms, law enforcement officials said.

The station in downtown Malmo, a major hub for regional rail traffic, was evacuated in the wake of the incident. There were no other injuries reported apart from the man fired upon - he was shot in the legs by a police officer.

“The background and reason for this was that the man exhibited threatening behavior. He carried two bags which he claimed contained firearms as well as explosives,” police official Per-Olof Soyseth told a news conference.

The man, whose identity had yet to be ascertained, was being treated in hospital while the bags he had been carrying were subjected to controlled explosions by a police bomb squad in the central station, police said.

The man was later placed under formal arrest on suspicion of making grave unlawful threats, a police statement said, adding that several different identity documents had been found in his belongings.

Soyseth said that while it remained unclear whether the bags had contained any dangerous items, officers at the scene had needed to respond to developments under the assumption that it could be an act of terrorism.

Malmo police said it was increasing its presence at public places across the seaside city of just over 300,000 people. Railway traffic to and from the station was suspended due to the investigation, the regional and national train operators said.