A vehicle collided with a crowd in Mannheim, western Germany, killing two people and injuring eleven others, according to a police spokesperson on Monday.

Police did not call the latest incident an attack but said a suspected "perpetrator" had been arrested after the car was driven through a shopping area around 12:15 pm (1115 GMT).

"We can now confirm that a car was driven into a pedestrian zone and that one person was killed," said police spokesman Stefan Wilhelm, adding that several people were injured.

"We can confirm that one suspect was arrested," he said, adding that "the investigation is continuing."

Police are asking the public to avoid the area.

The attack occurred as people gathered in cities around western Germany's Rhineland for carnival parades.

A black SUV collided with a crowd while driving from the downtown Paradeplatz area to the city's iconic water tower, according to local media.

Authorities were on high alert as Monday is the high point of traditional German carnival celebrations before the beginning of Lent.

Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said on Monday before the incident in Mannheim that festivities were taking place "with high security precautions".

Mannheim had seen thousands take to the streets on Sunday for its own carnival parade.

In December, two were killed and between 60 and 80 people were injured as a car crashed into a crowd at a Christmas market in the eastern German city of Magdeburg.