A knife attacker stabbed two people at Amsterdam's main rail station on Friday morning before being shot by police, authorities said.

Shortly after noon (1000 UTC) a "man in the west side tunnel of Amsterdam Central Station stabbed two other people and directly after that he was shot by the police," Amsterdam police spokesman Rob van der Veen said.

The two victims and the suspected attacker were taken to the hospital to receive treatment for their injuries.

The man has been identified as a 19-year-old Afghan citizen. Authorities said they were unable to provide any details about the motive for the stabbing, but that terrorism could not been ruled out.

The two victims were US citizens on holiday in the city, the US ambassador to the Netherlands, Pete Hoekstra, said in a statement.

One witness told the local Amsterdam AT broadcaster that the attacker was a man in his 30s. One of the victims was allegedly a foreign youth who suffered injuries to his hand.

"There was sudden screaming and people rushed up from the hall of the station to the platforms," de Volkskrant newspaper cited a person at the scene as saying. "No one knew what was going on, the train announcements continued as usual."

Police closed off two train platforms to passengers but did not order a complete evacuation of the station. The trams that leave from the front of the station were not running.

Around 250,000 travelers pass through Amsterdam's Central Station every day, according to the Amsterdam.info travel guide.

Friday is a particularly busy time for the station, with numerous tourists arriving for weekend trips.

cw/kms (AP, AFP, dpa)