German police on Tuesday said they had shot dead a man suspected of attacking passers-by with knives in the western town of Moers, days after a deadly knife attack in nearby Solingen.

Emergency services were called at around 2.45 pm (12.45 GMT) on Tuesday and told that a man had "assaulted and threatened several passers-by" in the town, police in nearby Duisburg said in a statement.

Officers were able to locate a 26-year-old German suspect who "attacked (them) with two knives in his hands", the police said.

Police shot at the man who was "fatally injured as a result" but no other people were injured, they said.

The incident comes with Germany on high alert after three people were killed and eight injured in Friday's knife rampage at a street festival in Solingen, about 45 kilometres from Moers.

A 26-year-old Syrian with suspected links to the Islamic State group is alleged to have carried out the attack.

Paying tribute to the victims on Monday, Chancellor Olaf Scholz pledged to tighten up Germany's weapons laws, "in particular with regard to the use of knives".

Stronger weapons controls would come "very quickly", Scholz said.

The attack in Solingen has reignited a debate over immigration in the country and put extra pressure on Scholz ahead of key regional elections set for Sunday.

The suspected attacker was meant to have been deported to Bulgaria, where he had first arrived in the European Union, but appears to have easily evaded attempts to remove him.

Scholz on Monday said Germany would "do everything we can to ensure that those who cannot and must not stay here in Germany are repatriated and deported".