BERLIN, Aug. 19 (Xinhua) — An armed man took several hostages in the Town Hall of a southern German city on Monday morning, hours before Chancellor Angela Merkel’s visit for an election rally.

The man entered the Town Hall of Ingolstadt, a city in central Bavaria State, shortly before 9 o’clock in the morning, and held several hostages.

Police have cordoned off the building and contacted directly with the hostage.

There were several people in the building, including the city Mayor. Number of hostages, however, remained unclear. Local Augsburger Allgemeine newspaper reported that the number was in single digits, citing a police source.

A police spokesman told the newspaper that the hostage taker was obviously armed, but his motivation was not known yet.

Merkel was scheduled to visit the city for an election rally on 17:00 o’clock. It was not clear whether the two events had any links.

Germany was set to hold federal election on September 22th. The election of Bavaria State was scheduled to be held a week earlier.