A 20-year-old woman who claimed she was slashed and called a 'f***ing terrorist' by an attacker in Lower Manhattan has owned up to carrying it out herself.

The student, of Middle Eastern descent, was walking at 4.10pm on Thursday when she said a man appeared outside Trinity Church, near Wall Street.

She alleged he was armed with a blade and wounded her on the left side of the face. The attacker was then said to have fled as locals heard a commotion.

Emergency services were called after the woman contacted her father describing her injury and ordeal.

The man was said to be armed with a blade and wounded her on the left side of the face. The attacker then fled as locals heard a commotion

The student, of Middle Eastern descent, was walking at 4.10pm on Thursday when she claimed a man appeared outside Trinity Church, near Wall Street

Chief Bill Aubry, NYPD Detective Bureau, had called on the public to help with the case

Detectives last night were at the scene searching for clues to what was seen as a random violent assault.

But they struggled in their hunt for witnesses and evidence before she admitted to carrying out the attack on herself.

Chief Bill Aubry, NYPD Detective Bureau, initially told Eyewitness News: 'We'd like to ask the public for their help,'

'She reported as she was walking northbound on Broadway, an unknown male grabbed her by the arm turned her and slashed her on the left side of her face.

'She reported that when he slashed her he made a statement to the effect that she was a terrorist, and he continued to flee northbound on Broadway.'

From the back of an ambulance, she described how she retreated to a cosmetology school she attends down the street. There she called her father, who contacted 911.

The 'victim' was walking in Broadway, Lower Manhattan, when the attack at 4.10pm on Thursday happened

Police had been searching for clues from the scene where the woman said she was attacked

One passerby said he didn't see anything but heard the commotion that followed.

'I saw somebody on the floor,' he said. 'Someone said that she was hurt, and someone call an ambulance.'

The woman is in a stable condition, with non-life threatening injuries, in Bellevue Hospital. She has now been taken for psychiatric tests.