Third terror attack in Germany in a week

A Syrian refugee has been killed setting off a bomb at a bar in southern Germany which also wounded a dozen other people, authorities say, the third attack to hit Bavaria in a week.

The 27-year-old man, whose asylum application was rejected a year ago, had been targeting a nearby pop music festival, regional interior minister Joachim Herrmann said, according to DPA.

Some 2,500 people have been evacuated from the concert after the explosion went off in front of a bar in the centre of Ansbach at around 10:00 PM (local time) yesterday.

Police have blocked off the city centre and emergency services were at the scene. Bomb experts were also on their way to determine the cause of the blast.

"An explosion went off in the city centre and a man, who the latest enquiries show caused it, was killed in the event," police said in a statement.

A dozen people were wounded in the explosion, three of them seriously, added a spokeswoman, without giving any more details.

Michael Siefener, a spokesman for the regional interior ministry, said the explosion "was set off deliberately," adding that authorities were trying to establish the exact cause.

The blast is the third incident to hit the southern German state of Bavaria in a week, after nine were killed in a shooting rampage in Munich and several were wounded in an axe attack on a train.

Europe has been on edge for months after a string of deadly attacks claimed by the Islamic State jihadist group, including bombings in Brussels and carnage at Bastille Day celebrations in the southern French city of Nice.