A man who shot three people at a Zurich mosque is dead, police say, confirming that a body found near the scene was that of the assailant.

It’s also been revealed the 24 year old Swiss man had earlier killed an acquaintance with a knife, after the pair argued.

He has been identified through DNA traces left on his stabbing victim, who was found at a Zurich playground.

Prosecutors say there are no indications that terrorism was involved, but the killer’s motives are still unclear.

When police searched the suspect’s empty home on Monday, they found knives and symbols that pointed to the occultist interests of the man, who was partly of Ghanaian descent.

“There were indications that the perpetrator was interested in occult topics,” said Zurich’s criminal police chief, Christiane Lentjes Meili.

The gunman had stormed into the Islamic centre and opened fire on worshippers on Monday night, injuring three.

Two of the three men – aged 30, 35 and 56 – were seriously injured in the shooting, police said.

A third sustained less severe injuries. All three were taken to hospital.

The suspect fled the mosque and his body was found nearby.

Police inspect the site where the man’s body was found under the Gessnerbruecke bridge. Photo: EPA/ Ennio Lean

People at the scene told Reuters the Islamic Centre on Zurich’s Eisgasse, near the main train station in Switzerland’s financial capital, was used as a mosque, often by Somalis.

“We never once had a problem,” said Abukar Abshirow, a Somali who said he was a regular worshipper at the centre that attracted Muslims from around the world.

“We never had anyone come and say why are you here. We never had that,” Abshirow said. He said the three victims were Somalis.

Two-thirds of Switzerland’s 8.3 million residents identify as Christian but the nation has been wrestling with the role of Islam as its Muslim population has risen to five per cent, swelled by the arrival of immigrants from the former Yugoslavia.

The Federation of Islamic Organisations in Switzerland said the centre was not a member and it did not have any direct knowledge of the incident.