LAST UPDATE | 27 Mar

A MAN SERIOUSLY wounded five people in a stabbing attack on a busy shopping street in Amsterdam, Dutch police said.

The victims included two people from the US, one from Belgium, one from Poland and a teenager from Amsterdam.

The attack lasted several minutes before the assailant was stopped by a passer-by near the city’s Dam Square in the late afternoon. The man was subsequently arrested. 

Police cordoned off the area and several ambulances and a trauma helicopter were called to the scene.

Police have cordoned off the area and multiple ambulances have responded to the event. Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

In a statement, authorities said that no motive had been established for the attack, but that police are considering a scenario where the man targeted victims at random.

The victims were identified as a 67-year-old woman and a 69-year old man from the US, a 73-year-old woman from Belgium, a 26-year-old man from Poland and a 19-year old Dutch woman from Amsterdam.

“The police investigation is in full swing and has full priority at the moment. We hope to soon get more clarity about the background of this horrible stabbing,” Amsterdam mayor Femke Halsema said in a statement.

“Our hearts go out to the victims, their families and loved ones.”

The assailant was injured when he was overpowered by a bystander.

“The suspect was detained with the help of a civilian,” police spokesperson Eline Roovers told The Associated Press.

With reporting from Press Association