At least nine people have been killed and 21 others injured in a terrorist shooting in Munich, police said late yesterday, adding that a rucksack found on the body of a suspected perpetrator was being examined for explosives.

Munich authorities spoke of an "acute state of terror" after the shooting at the Olympia shopping centre resulted in a series of evacuations and a widespread state of panic across the southern German city.

An initial examination of the ninth body, found about 1km away from the shopping centre, showed he had died a violent death, police said. A red rucksack he was wearing is being checked for explosives.

Munich authorities have activated the country's elite counter-terrorism units GSG 9 and BFE+ and asked for reinforcement from police units across the country.

Munich authorities asked residents not to leave their houses and to avoid public places. The city's central train station was evacuated and public transportation was brought to a halt.

The Bavarian parliament and rail operator Deutsche Bahn were among those to open their doors to residents unable to reach their homes for cover.

The shooting started at 5.52pm (11.52pm Malaysian time) at a McDonald's in the shopping centre. Police and emergency vehicles could be seen outside the shopping centre and helicopters were flying over the city.

There have been no other terrorist incidents in Munich, police said, refuting reports in German media about an incident at Karlsplatz square, also known as Stachus, near the city centre and about 5km from the Olympia shopping centre.

The German government called a crisis meeting at the chancellery in Berlin, but Chancellor Angela Merkel was not yet in attendance, chancellery sources told dpa.

The country's national security council, headed by Merkel, will meet in Berlin today, her chief of staff Peter Altmaier said.

Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere, Germany's top security official, was returning from the United Sates to attend.

Germany has been on high alert since Monday, when an Islamist asylum seeker injured five people in a knife-and-axe attack on a commuter train headed to the southern city of Wuerzburg.

- dpa