A police officer secures the area at a Christmas market in Dresden, Germany, on Saturday. Reuters

"All-clear! The hostage situation in #Dresden is over!" police said on Twitter, adding that two people who appeared to be unharmed were in its care. It did not provide any details on the suspect.

News outlet TAG24 earlier cited police as saying that a 40-year-old German man was believed to have killed his 62-year-old mother in an apartment building in the Prohlis district of Dresden, southeast of the city centre.

Police had urged people to avoid an area in the city center and ordered Dresden's Christmas market to remain closed while the operation was underway.

Radio Dresden reported that a gunman earlier tried to enter a building where the broadcaster is based, near the city's main train station. The man reportedly fired several shots before fleeing, according to Radio Dresden.

Dresden police separately confirmed that a 62-year-old woman was found dead in another part of the city on Saturday. Her 40-year-old son was named as a suspect. Police declined to confirm whether there was a connection between the killing and the hostage-taking.

The incident comes as security has shifted into focus in Germany, after investigators earlier this week foiled a far-right plot to overthrow the German government and install an aristocrat as the leader of a new state.

Agencies