A gunman in a car killed a woman and a cyclist in drive-by shootings in southern Germany on Friday, before police arrested a suspect at a petrol station.

A gunman in a car killed a woman and a cyclist in drive-by shootings in southern Germany on Friday, before police arrested a suspect at a petrol station.

The shooter, travelling in a silver Mercedes convertible, also fired at or threatened a farmer and another motorist, but they were not wounded, police said.

Police arrested the suspect at a petrol station near the shootings that took place in the village of Leutershausen-Tiefenthal near the city of Ansbach in the southern state of Bavaria.

Police had issued a public alert about the gunman at large, warning that he was armed and dangerous, and mobilized all local police as well as helicopters.

The mayor of Leutershausen, Siegfried Hess, said he was "stunned" and told national news agency DPA: "In a place with 5,500 inhabitants where we have always had a quiet life, we only know this kind of situation from television."