Armed man shot dead in Munich after exchange of fire

German police shot dead a gunman who had opened fire at them near central Munich's Nazi-era documentation centre and the Israeli consulate, the Bavarian interior minister said.

"Police responded with armed force against the perpetrator, who was carrying a rifle and had fired a number of shots," said state interior minister Joachim Herrmann.

"It was a male person and we know that he acted here with a long-barrelled gun," a Munich police spokesperson said.