A 20-year-old man has been arrested in the Bavarian city of Regensburg in south-east Germany, after a knife attack at a bank that left a man fatally wounded.

Details of what happened inside the bank are unclear, but a heavily armed special police task force was called in amid initial fears of a hostage situation, after a violent incident shortly before 15:00 local time (13:00 GMT).

The victim was eventually taken to hospital with critical injuries but later died. Bavarian Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann said he had been subjected to a “brutal unprovoked attack”.

The suspect has been described as a German national.

Mayor Thomas Burger said many residents in the western part of Regensburg had endured of “hours of great uncertainty” and he had been deeply shaken by what had happened.

It is not clear what led to the stand-off. It took some time before emergency services were finally able to provide medical treatment to the victim.

Police in body armour were eventually able to take two people out of the bank who appeared unhurt.

The suspect was escorted from the building at about 18:00. Police said they were working on the theory that he was a lone perpetrator.

They said they were treating the incident as “a homicide as well as suspected attempted robbery” and said the suspect was due to be brought before a judge on Friday.