Shooting near Frankfurt kills eight people, investigation underway

Eight people were killed on Wednesday in two shooting incidents in a German city near Frankfurt and Special Forces were chasing the gunmen who fled in a car.

Heavily armed police sealed off two streets in the city of Hanau where ambulances had rushed after the shooting.

A police helicopter hovered over the city, east of the financial hub Frankfurt.

Hanau is in southwestern Germany, about 20 kilometers (12 miles) east of Frankfurt.

Moreover, it has about 100,000 inhabitants.

The motive for the shootings is still unclear.

Local media said gunmen had opened fire at two shisha bars in Hanau.

Furthermore, the gunmen fled the scene of the first incident in a dark-coloured car.

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

Last year, six people, including a police officer and two suspected gunmen, were killed in a shooting incident.

The incident occurred near a cemetery and a kosher grocery store in New Jersey.

The two suspects were killed acted alone, Jersey City Police Chief Michael Kelly had told.

The two gunmen and three civilian victims were pronounced dead inside the JC Kosher Supermarket.

The slain police detective was fatally wounded near a cemetery about a mile away where the shooting apparently started.

However, he tried to intercept one of the suspects, Kelly said.