Tokyo, 26 May 2023 (dpa/MIA) - The suspect in an attack which killed four people in central Japan was taken into custody early Friday, local media reported.

The man was arrested in the early hours of Friday in front of his father's house in the city of Nakano, Japanese television station NHK and news agency Kyodo reported.

Four people, including two police officers, were killed in an attack on Thursday in Nakano City, in Nagano Prefecture on the main island of Honshu, according to media reports.

A masked man attacked several people with a gun and a knife, Japanese media reported.

The suspect allegedly stabbed a woman to death and fatally shot two policemen with a hunting rifle near his father's home before barricading himself inside for hours, Kyodo cited police as saying. An elderly woman was also found injured and unconscious outside the house and later pronounced dead.

The alleged attacker was wearing camouflage clothing, a hat, sunglasses and a mask when he fled, reports said.