One woman is dead and seven others are in hospital in Poland after a man attacked them with a knife at a shopping mall.

A 27-year-old man has been detained after the attack in the south-eastern city of Stalowa Wola.

The man, who police believe was mentally unwell, entered Vivo shopping centre at around 3pm local time and started stabbing people in the back.

He is a resident of Stalowa Wola believed to be named Konrad according to local reports.

This man, dressed in a grey sweatshirt, was detained by police outside the shopping centre

A 27-year-old man has been detained after eight people were stabbed at a shopping mall in Stalowa Wola, Poland on Thursday

Witnesses rushed to help people who were stabbed by the knifeman at the Stalowa Wola shopping mall

Eight people, including the woman who died, were taken to hospitals in Stalowa Wola, Tarnobrzeg and Sandomierz.

Two teenagers are reported to be in a critical condition.

Police commandant Krzysztof Pobuta said: 'The detained man was unable to explain his motives and didn't know why he did it.

'I see that he is in the middle of a deep mental breakdown. We do not know yet what is going on.'

Commander Pobuta added that communication with the attacker was very difficult. 'I think this man is in a state of depression, hence his actions,' he said.

Police officer Anna Klee was quoted by the PAP news agency as saying the weapon was a knife and a 50-year-old woman died in the hospital.

'He was attacking people from behind, hitting them with the knife,' Klee told PAP.

Witnesses described him as a 'madman' who was 'stabbing blindly' at other shoppers in the mall, RMF24 reported.

A witness called Urszula told local media: 'I saw the first victim attacked just two metres from where I was standing.

One witness said: 'The man, dressed in a grey sweatshirt, came through the the main entrance with two knives and blindly attacked the next victim in silence.'

Another who works at the shopping centre said: 'It was one big slaughterhouse. The whole gallery was in blood, it looked terrible.'

Witnesses described him as a 'madman' who was 'stabbing blindly' at other shoppers in the mall

The attacker who is from the Rozwadow suburb of the city is said to have been treated for schizophrenia in the past and, according to locals, was a keen footballer who had applied to join the army.

A former friend said: 'The guy is generally cool. I knew him, remember how we went to school every day by bus.

'We played football on the same level.

'This week I talked to him in Biedronka [a supermarket]. In 2014 we applied for military service, to be professional soldiers. I'm shocked.'

Another local said the man was suffering from Schizophrenia, a claim supported by investigators who say the man had been treated for psychological problems.

'It looked as though the boy who was attacked had some sort of epileptic attack.

'I heard a girl standing next to him scream. I wanted to run to him, help him, but I noticed that blood was starting to flow from his neck.

'At this point, somebody ran up to us and told us to leave. We started running.'

The knifeman was eventually subdued by a security guard and other customers of the shopping center, who held him until police arrived.

The motive for the attack was not immediately clear.

Police say the attacker, who had no prior arrests, stabbed his own back in the attack, by acting 'irrationally'.

A breathalyzer test revealed that the man was not under the influence of alcohol when the attack occurred.

Police took samples of his blood to test for other substances.