Three people have been killed – including two police officers – and one wounded in a shooting and stabbing attack in rural Japan with the camouflage-clad perpetrator barricading himself inside a building, news reports said.

Officers rushed to the scene on Thursday after a pedestrian reported a commotion in Nakano city in the central Japanese prefecture of Nagano.

A witness told NHK public television a woman fell while being chased by the suspect, who then stabbed her with a knife and shot at two police officers with a shotgun as they arrived at the scene.