Several people were injured in a shooting in Berlin in the early hours of Saturday,  German emergency services said.

Unidentified assailants fled the scene following the shooting in the Kreuzberg district of the German capital, according to police, who said four people were hospitalised with serious injuries. 

“Emergency medical services, including three emergency doctors and a head emergency doctor cared for three seriously injured people and transported them to hospitals for further treatment,” the Berlin fire service said in a tweet, without providing further detail.

A manhunt was underway, according to state broadcaster Deutsche Welle, with armed police deployed to the area to search for  shooters while a police helicopter circled overhead. 

The outlet reported that an injured man was pulled from a canal after jumping in to try to escape the shooting.

Police also searched the nearby Mockernbrucke subway station.

A photographer for German press agency DPA said the incident occurred near the offices of the centre-left Social Democratic Party.

"The motive is not yet known,"a police spokesperson told DPA. "We also do not yet know how many people were involved."/ Telegraph