Feb. 5 (Bloomberg) -- German police in the northern town of Sittensen found the bodies of six people who had been tied up and shot in a local Chinese restaurant.

A 47-year-old man who had come to pick up his wife at the Lin Yue restaurant at 12:30 a.m. found her among the bodies, which were in several rooms of the restaurant, police spokesman Thomas Teuber said by phone. Sittensen is about 37 miles (60 kilometers) southwest of Hamburg in the state of Lower Saxony.

Autopsies are being carried out on the unidentified victims, who are likely of Asian descent, Teuber said. He said it's too early to speculate about the motive for the killings.

A seventh victim, a restaurant employee who was found with a life-threatening gunshot wound and taken to hospital, remained in critical condition, the spokesman said.

Police and federal investigators began an investigation at the scene and appealed for witnesses, including people who dined at Lin Yue late yesterday or who saw any suspicious people at or near the restaurant, according to a statement earlier.

To contact the reporter on this story: Patrick Donahue in Berlin at pdonahue1@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: February 5, 2007 09:47 EST