According to local media reports, police were called out to a shared apartment in Grünberger Straße, in the capital's popular Friedrichshain district, at around 4am on Friday morning after reports that a 33-year-old woman allegedly threatened her flatmate with a knife.

When the arriving officers tried to get into her room, the 33-year-old woman is said to have resisted, and then confronted them with the weapon.

An officer then shot the woman in “the upper part of her body” during the operation, the public prosecutor's office and the police said.

Emergency services were called; however, the woman died in the apartment.

“She is said to have met the officers with a knife, whereupon the police officer used his firearm,” the statement said.

The police union (GdP) and the public prosecutor's office said the incident would be probed.

“We are currently assuming that our colleagues have behaved correctly,” said the union. “Of course, this deployment will also be closely examined.”

Meanwhile, a 25-year-old man was reportedly shot dead by police at an apartment on Tuesday in Hohenschönhausen, eastern Berlin.

The incident happened in his apartment in Ribnitzer Straße. The man is said to have attacked officers with a knife.

An investigation into what happened is underway.