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Nine people have died after drive-by shootings at a shisha bar and a restaurant in Germany - with one man arrested and another suspect found dead alongside a second body.

Five further young people, including a woman, are thought to have been left in critical condition after the two incidents in the town of Hanau at around 10pm local time on Wednesday.

A gunman is understood to have opened fire at the hookah lounge and restaurant before fleeing in a dark coloured car.

A burst of gunfire erupted at Midnight shisha bar in Hanau's Kesselstadt neighbourhood where three people were killed, and then he drove to the Arena Bar & Cafe restaurant, shooting dead five more people.

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(Image: REUTERS)

A ninth victim has since died in the hours after the incident, but it is unclear which location they were shot.

A suspect in the shootings has been found dead at his home, police have said.

Another body was found at the home of the man in the same city, which sits east of Frankfurt.

"There are no indications that other suspects were involved," police said on Twitter.

The suspect is reported to have left a letter indicating anti-immigration and extreme right wing beliefs.

(Image: AFP via Getty Images) (Image: REUTERS)

Photos from the scene of the shooting show officers arresting a man as special units were hunting an unknown number of others involved who remained at large.

Initial German media report suggested the violence was gang related, however this has since been rejected by investigators.

In the note the gunman, named as German national Tobias R. by Bild, talks about 'the need to destroy certain peoples whose expulsion from Germany could no longer be achieved'.

He is reported to have shot himself.

Witnesses have described hearing eight or nine shots fired at Kurt-Schumacher-Platz, a central square in Kesselstadt, during one of the incidents, according to reports.

(Image: REUTERS) (Image: REUTERS)

Other photos show forensic officers around a silver Mercedes which had bullet holes in the windscreen.

Bild reports the alleged perpetrator's car is being examined by specialists, with ammunition, magazines and a holster said to have been found inside.

The newspaper said the man is understood to have had a hunting licence and is of German nationality.

It also reports that some of the victims were Kurdish people.

The owner of one of the bars is understood to have been one of those killed.

A shooter is said to have rung the bell of one of the bars, then shot wildly into the smoking area and inside the building.

(Image: REUTERS) (Image: REUTERS)

The police immediately initiated a large-scale search for the shooter or shooters.

Video shows how dozens of emergency vehicles raced to the scene where a police cordon was put in place.

Officers and helicopters were pictured patrolling both areas.

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A possible third shootout in the nearby Lamboy district was not confirmed as a large police presence was seen in the area.

Some of those caught up in the attack in the Heumarkt area were seen crying near the scene in video footage.

The motive for the attack is unclear, a police statement said.

(Image: REUTERS) (Image: EPA-EFE/REX)

Can-Luca Frisenna, who works at a kiosk at the scene of one of the shootings said his father and brother were in the area when the attack took place.

"It's like being in a film, it's like a bad joke, that someone is playing a joke on us," he told Reuters.

"I can't grasp yet everything that has happened. My colleagues, all my colleagues, they are like my family - they can't understand it either."

It comes four days after another shooting in Berlin, near a Turkish comedy show at the Tempodrom concert venue, which killed one person.

Hanau is a city of 100,000 inhabitants in the state of Hessen.

Police set up a hotline for members of the public with information that could lead to the perpetrators.