Several people have been wounded in a stabbing attack on a busy shopping street in The Hague, Dutch police say.

Children were among those injured in the incident, according to authorities. The seriousness of their wounds is not yet known, and it is unclear whether they were hurt in the knife attack or from the aftermath.

Videos showed crowds of shoppers fleeing down the street on a busy Black Friday evening in Grote Marktstraat, one of The Hague’s most popular shopping areas. Images posted on social media also showed a number of police cars and ambulances in the road as crowds were held back behind a red-and-white cordon.

On Friday, NOS, the Dutch national broadcaster, said there did not appear to be a terrorist motive behind the knife attack, however a police spokesperson said it remained unclear whether the stabbing was a terrorist incident.

“We are keeping every scenario open,” police spokesperson Marije Kuiper said.

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In a separate message, Hague police said they were hunting a man aged between 45 and 50 and described him using a Dutch term often applied to people of north African descent.

The incident comes after two people were killed and more injured in a knife attack in London Bridge by a convicted terrorist known to police.

The Netherlands had already been shocked by a similar stabbing in Amsterdam a year ago when two Americans were injured in a knife attack that prosecutors say had a “terrorist motive”.