ROME (AP) - Police say an immigrant from Ghana went on a rampage with a pickaxe in Milan, killing a passerby and wounding five others in an apparently random attack.

Carabinieri paramilitary police in Milan said the attacker was taken into custody shortly after the attacks on Saturday morning in a neighbourhood on the northern outskirts of the city.

People working in cafes and other business near the attack told Sky TG24 TV the man swung a pickaxe, running down streets and ferociously striking passersby, mainly on the head. Pools of blood stained the streets. The motive was unclear.

The police said they would give details later about the attacker, who was reported to be a 21-year-old man who had apparently ignored a 2011 expulsion order because he was not legally in the country.