By Joern Poltz, Wolfgang Rattay and Anja Guder

MUNICH, Germany (Reuters) - Some 28 people were hurt when a car driven by an Afghan asylum seeker ploughed into a crowd in Munich on Thursday in what the state premier said was probably an attack, putting security back in focus before next week's federal election.

The suspected attack also came hours before international leaders including U.S. Vice President JD Vance and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy were due to arrive in the southern German city for the Munich Security Conference.

Police said a white car had approached police vehicles that were accompanying a demonstration of striking workers, before speeding up and hitting people. One shot was fired at the suspect and it was unclear if he was wounded, police added.

Officers detained the 24-year-old driver. His motive was unclear.

"It was probably an attack," Bavaria state premier Markus Soeder told reporters. Bavarian interior minister Joachim Herrmann said the suspect had been known to police for drug and shoplifting offences.

Immigration and security issues have dominated campaigning ahead of the February 23 election, especially after other violent incidents in recent weeks, with polls showing the centre-right conservatives leading followed by the far right.

In December, six people were killed in an attack on a Christmas market in Magdeburg and last month a toddler and adult were killed in a knife attack in the Bavarian town of Aschaffenburg. Immigrants have been arrested over both attacks.

Conservative Friedrich Merz, frontrunner to be Germany's next chancellor, said safety would be his top priority.

"We will enforce law and order. Everyone must feel safe in our country again. Something has to change in Germany," Merz posted on X.

Merz has accused Social Democrat Chancellor Olaf Scholz of being soft on immigration and last month, he even broke a taboo by winning a parliamentary vote on asylum with the support of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD).

MIGRATION DOMINATES CAMPAIGN

The AfD, in second place in polls, also seized on the incident, with co-leader Alice Weidel focusing on the driver being an Afghan asylum seeker.

"Should this go on forever? Migration turnaround now!" she posted on social media platform X.

Scholz said the perpetrator could not hope for leniency.

"He must be punished and he must leave the country," said Scholz, according to news outlet Focus Online. "If it was an attack, we must take consistent action against possible perpetrators with all means of justice."

About four hours after the incident, the street where it took place was strewn with items of clothing and bags, a shoe and a pair of glasses.

Police set up a gathering point for witnesses in the Loewenbraeukeller, one of Munich's oldest beer halls.

A passer-by said he witnessed the incident from a window of a neighbouring office building. The car, a white Mini Cooper, had threaded its way between the police vehicles and then accelerated, he said.

Another witness said she had seen part of the incident from a building. The car had accelerated and hit several people in the crowd, she said.

People in the crowd had been taking part in a strike held by the Verdi public sector workers' union whose leader, Frank Werneke, expressed shock but said he had no further details.

Bavaria's interior minister said he did not suspect there was a connection to the Munich Security Conference, which starts on Friday.

(Reporting by Ayhan Uyanik, Rachel More and Ludwig Burger, Friederike Heine, writing by Madeline Chambers, editing by Kirsti Knolle, Matthias Williams, Alex Richardson and Bernadette Baum)