FOUR PEOPLE HAVE BEEN killed after a gun and bomb attack in Lorrach, southwestern Germany, yesterday.

Der Spiegel reports that a woman killed her former partner and five-year-old son in an apartment before heading to a nearby hospital.

It is unclear whether the man and child were killed by an explosion and fire at the property, or if they were shot.

The woman, who has not been named, is reported to have shot one person on her way to the gynaecological wing of the hospital. There, she allegedly stabbed another person, and shot and injured three others, including a policeman.

Police then shot the woman dead. The BBC reports that local prosecutors have suggested a domestic dispute triggered the shooting, but police have not identified a motive.

The head of the region’s police force, Wolf Hammann, said that the officers prevented “an even worse tragedy” by killing the woman, and said the whole incident had last just 40 minutes.

In March 2009, a 17-year-0ld boy shot and killed 15 people before turning the gun on himself. The manslaughter trial of his father opened just days ago. Joerg Kretschmer, 51, is accused of violating gun laws because his son was able to take his gun from their home.