Four people have been killed in a gun rampage in an ice cream parlour in Germany.

Attackers blasted to death three men and a woman in the ice cream parlour in the town of Ruesselsheim near Frankfurt.

Police said the woman wandered into the line of fire and that the men were the 'real targets.'

Shooting: Police investigate the scene of a fatal shooting outside an ice-cream parlour in the central German town of Russelsheim

One killer is alleged to have said: 'OK scum - this is where you get your’s' as he opened fire.

A police spokesman said at least four assailants fled the scene and both guns and knives might have been used in the attack.

The killers fled before police arrived. The bodies were found soon afterwards by detectives.

A dragnet for the perpetrators was cast for 50 miles around with police helicopters joining in the hunt.

Hit men: Four people were killed in the shooting at an Italian gelato shop in western Germany

Police spokesman Ferdinand Derigs said: 'This was a brutal execution of innocent people. There is organised crime behind it.'

The attack came a year after six Italians were murdered in the industrial heart of Germany  in an unprecedented Mafia hit.

The men, from Calabria in southern Italy,  were gunned down outside an Italian restaurant in the city of Duisburg, western Germany, after celebrating one of the group’s 18th birthday.

An anti-Mafia police squad from Calabria and Interpol officers based in Rome were  dispatched to help ion the investigation.

It is not immediately clear if the ice cream parlour killings were related to the Italian mafia or a local gang feud.

Forensic police officers inspect the body of a victim at multiple shooting site