ERICH REIMANN

DUISBURG, Germany (AP) - Six Italian men were fatally shot in the head near a train station in the western German city of Duisburg early Wednesday, police said.

The six victims were found in two vehicles near the main train station. One of the men died while being taken by ambulance to a hospital, police spokesman Hermann-Josef Helmich said. Helmich said the men, between the ages of 16 and 39, were Italians, but gave no other information on their identities. Police did not know who might have committed the killings or what the motive might have been, he said.

In Italy, news reports said the killings were the result of a fight between two rival clans of the 'ndrangheta criminal organization active in Italy's southern Calabria region.

Another Duisburg police spokesman, Reinhard Pape, said a pedestrian heard a noise and stopped a police patrol car that happened to be in the area.

Police said she reported hearing a bang followed by a noise resembling that made by fireworks and did not immediately think they were gunshots.

Numerous gun cartridges were found at the crime scene - about 100 metres from the train station, and close to an Italian restaurant.

"There must have been more than one person involved," Pape said.

Police said the two vehicles, a car and a van, had collided in a narrow passage between two office buildings. It was unclear whether the collision occurred before or during the shootings.

The incident apparently happened around 2 a.m. About a half hour later, police officers found the two vehicles. The van was registered in Duisburg and the car in Pforzheim, in southwestern Germany.

The victims appear to have been unarmed, Pape said.

Police were due to hold a news conference at 2 p.m.

Italy's ANSA news agency said the victims appeared to be from the 'ndragheta's Pelle-Romeo clan. The killers, ANSA said, were suspected of coming from the Strangio-Nirta clan. It didn't identify its sources, saying only that they were Italian investigative sources.

"It's an unprecedented settling of scores, also because it took place in a foreign country for the first time," ANSA quoted the deputy head of the Regio Calabria police, Luigi De Sena, as saying. "The presence of Calabrians in Germany is very strong, but until now they always kept a low profile, trying not to attract attention."