By BBC and Sky News

A LONE gunman is dead after injuring four people inside a lecture hall at Heidelberg University, German police have said.

They said the gunman was in possession of a “long gun”, and that a large operation including emergency services was under way at the university’s campus in Neuenheimer Feld.

Some of those wounded were seriously injured, police said on Twitter.

Heidelberg is a university town in the southwest of Germany.

Police have asked people to avoid the area so rescue workers and emergency services are able to move around freely.

Germany has been hit in recent years by a spate of attacks, mostly carried out by jihadists or far-right militants.

The country has some of the strictest gun laws in Europe, and school shootings are rare. Anyone under 25 is required to pass a psychological evaluation before getting a gun licence.

German newspaper Bild reported that the shooter was a student at the university, and had opened fire in the lecture hall before turning the gun on himself.

Police said his motive is still unclear, but investigators reportedly told Bild that he appears to have had no political or religious motivations.

He used a long-barreled firearm during the attack, and Bild reported that he may have been carrying several rifles.

Federal agriculture minister Cem Özdemir, who is from the larger Baden Württemberg area, said the news was “shattering”, adding: “My thoughts are with the injured, with the university staff, with police and all other emergency services.”

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Top: Police said the shooter injured several people at Heidelberg University with a long gun. File photo: Ullstein Bild via Getty Images and published by BBC

Home Page: Police and emergency services were dispatched. Photo: AP and published by Sky News