Two separate incidents claim numerous fatalities in Germany

An explosion and a shootout in two different locations have claimed several lives in Germany. Both incidents, one in the western town of Ratingen near Düsseldorf and the other in Sindelfingen near Stuttgart, happened on Thursday. In Ratingen, two police officers and ten firefighters were injured in the explosion that occurred at a residential building. Then German special forces entered the scene, stormed the apartment, arrested a man inside and found the body of a dead woman.

The alleged suspect in the incident is reportedly a 57-year-old man who lives with his elderly mother in the apartment where the blast came from. Prosecutors believe there was a crime but have yet to clarify the circumstances of the incident to find out how the woman died and what caused the explosion. In the Sindelfingen incident, two factory workers were killed in a shootout at a Mercedes-Benz plant. The suspect, a 53-year-old man, shot dead the two 44-year-old victims before being subdued by guards.

He “broke into the factory building and shot two people. Security forces seized the suspect and handed him over to the police, who met no resistance in their arrest," the police said in a statement. "The factory floor has been evacuated and the workers are currently being looked after by the police and company support staff." Police said no one was injured in the incident, adding that an investigation had been launched to find a motive.

The workers in the affected part of the plant were suspended until the end of the week, Mercedes-Benz said in a statement. However, the rest of the factory continues to operate "on schedule," the company added. In Germany, strict laws require citizens to have a gun owner's license to own or purchase a gun, and a gun license to use or carry a loaded gun.

The gun law, introduced in 2003 after a mass shooting at an Erfurt school that killed 16, partially limited gun rights. However, due to the increase in violence and following several shootings in recent years, there have been calls for tighter restrictions on guns.