Updated February 04, 2018 12:24:06

Photo: A gunman has opened fire from a vehicle on passers-by in the central Italian town of Macerata. (@Emergenza24)

A lone gunman has targeted foreigners in a series of drive-by shootings in a central Italian city, wounding six people, before being arrested.

Italy's interior minister Marco Minniti said the gunman had been motivated "by racial hatred" and had "a background of right-wing extremism with clear references to fascism and Nazism".

The shootings came days after the murder in Macerata of 18-year-old Pamela Mastropietro, whose dismembered remains were found on Wednesday in two suitcases.

A judge on Saturday confirmed the arrest of the main suspect, identified as a 29-year-old Nigerian.

The man arrested for carrying out the shootings was identified as Luca Traini, a 28-year-old Italian with no previous record.

He had run for town council on the anti-migrant Northern League's list in a local election last year in Corridonia, the party confirmed, but its mayoral candidate lost the race.

A video posted by the newspaper il Resto di Carlino showed a man with an Italian flag draped over his shoulders being arrested by armed Carabinieri officers in the city centre, a short distance from where he apparently fled his car on foot.

Macerata Mayor Romano Carancini said six foreigners were wounded in the two-hour shooting spree, one of them had life-threatening injuries.

Mr Carancini confirmed that all of the victims were black, and acknowledged that "the closeness of these two events makes you imagine that there is a connection."

Italy is in the middle of a heated electoral campaign where anti-foreigner sentiment has become a key theme.

The head of the anti-migrant Northern League, Matteo Salvini, capitalised on the killing of Pamela Mastropietro in campaign appearances, and pledged to deport 150,000 migrants in his first year in office if his party wins control of parliament and he is named premier.

The teenager's dismembered remains were found two days after she walked away from a drug rehab community.

The news agency ANSA reported that the car was seen in the area where the woman's body was found and also near where the suspect lived.

Police had warned people to stay inside while the shootings were ongoing.

Authorities ordered public transport halted and that students be kept inside schools, which are open on Saturdays.

Italians vote in the general election on March 4.

AP/Reuters

Topics: law-crime-and-justice, crime-prevention, community-and-society, italy

First posted February 04, 2018 00:51:33