BERLIN, March 10. /TASS/. At least seven people were dead and several more were injured late on Thursday in a shooting in Hamburg at a local center for the religious organization Jehovah's witnesses (recognized as extremist and outlawed in Russia), the German newspaper BILD said. Earlier reports said six people were dead.

The incident took place in the city’s Alsterdorf district. "Today at around 9 p.m. (11 p.m. Moscow time) one or several unidentified people opened fire on people in the church," a police statement reads. Law enforcement bodies urged to avoid the emergency site and not to leave houses in nearby streets.

At least 24 people were injured, the Hamburger Morgenpost reported.

The motives and particular circumstances are yet unknown. Special operating forces are working at the emergency site.

Bild reported that law enforcement agents heard a shot in the building as they entered it. They do not rule out that the attacker could commit suicide.