A major operation was launched in Germany on Monday evening following the discovery of a 'headless body' which turned out to be a dummy.

The alarm was raised by a pedestrian who was walking near the Rems river valley - an area east of Stuttgart - shortly after 8pm on Monday evening.

Photos from the scene showed a clothed and apparently blood-covered 'body'. The legs were also bound.

According to police in the state of Baden-Württemberg, the first police officer who responded also believed a human body had been discovered.

The discovery prompted the area to be cordoned off and detectives to be alerted.

20 firefighters were called to the scene, and helped create a path to the 'body' as it was not immediately accessible.

However, once emergency crews reached it, they discovered that the 'body' was in fact a 'deceptively real-looking doll'.

Police say it is not known how the dummy ended up at the scene.