A man arrested over a deadly bow and arrow attack in Norway had converted to Islam and there were fears he had been radicalised, police say. The 37-year-old Danish citizen is accused of killing four women and a man on Wednesday night in the southern town of Kongsberg.

Norway's security service (PST) said it appeared to be a terrorist act, but a motive has not been determined. Residents have been deeply shaken by the violence, local media reports.

Flags were flown at half-mast on Thursday while flowers and other memorials were placed in Kongsberg's main square.

The victims were all aged between 50 and 70, regional police chief Ole Bredrup Saeverud told reporters at a Thursday morning news briefing.

The attack was first reported at 18:12 (16:12 GMT) on Wednesday. Police confronted the man six minutes later, but he shot several arrows at them and escaped. He was eventually caught about 30 minutes later.

It was during this time, between being first approached and then arrested, that the victims were killed, the police chief said. A woman was also stabbed at a nearby intersection, witnesses told local media.

The suspect has not been identified.

Police fired warning shots when he was eventually arrested, but it is not clear if officers were armed when they first came across the suspect. Norwegian police do not usually carry guns on them - weapons are stored at police stations or in their patrol cars.

The attack was Norway's deadliest since far-right extremist Anders Behring Breivik murdered 77 people, most of them teenagers, on the island of Utoya in July 2011.