DUISBURG, Aug 15: Six Italian men were shot dead in this western city on Wednesday as the mafia exported a bloody vendetta to Germany.

Italy's Interior Minister Giuliano Amato said the victims, ranging from 16 to 38 years old, were caught up in a feud between powerful mafia families in the Calabria region of southern Italy.

A police patrol discovered four of the victims in a Volkswagen Golf hire car and two in an Opel van, which were parked near Duisburg's central station in the early hours of Wednesday.

Heinz Sprenger, the officer leading the German police investigation, said all six victims had “multiple gunshot wounds”.

“These men were shot at indiscriminately,” he told a press conference.

Sprenger said some of the victims showed signs of life when they were found by police, and although one survived longer than the others, efforts to resuscitate him failed.

He said some of the men had worked in a pizza restaurant near to the scene of the shooting and appealed for witnesses in the restaurant to come forward.

Sprenger confirmed that witnesses reported seeing two people running from the scene of the shooting and a car drove away at high speed.

The officer said he could not confirm that the mafia was involved, but conceded it was possible. Speaking on Italian television, Amato said he feared further reprisals in the ongoing feud within the criminal organisation known as the 'Ndrangheta, centred on the Calabrian village of San Luca.

“One of the people killed overnight in Duisburg may be one of the perpetrators of the last crime that took place in San Luca,” Amato said, adding that police were watching the Calabria region to try to prevent a “third act”. Italy’s deputy director of police, Luigi De Sena, said such killings in another country were unprecedented.

“This would be the first time it has happened in a foreign country,” De Sena told the ANSA news agency.

“The Calabria mafia has a significant presence in Germany but until now they have always tried to keep a low profile.” German police named the youngest victim as 16-year-old Francesco G. The oldest was Sebastiano S., who was 38.—AFP