WARSAW, Poland -- A man attacked people with a knife Friday at a shopping mall in southeastern Poland, killing one person and sending nine others to the hospital with wounds, police said.

Andrzej Wierszyna, spokesman for the police in the town of Stalowa Wola, said the attack took place Friday afternoon with a sharp tool. Police officer Anna Klee was quoted by the PAP news agency saying it 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.

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The 27-year-old Polish man, a resident of the town, has been detained.

Police chief Krzysztof Pobuta said the attacker was not able to explain his motives and was in an emotional state after he stabbed people in the back Friday afternoon. Pobuta said there's "no terrorist or ideological context for the attack, it is rather his poor psychological condition."

Nine people were taken to hospitals in Stalowa Wola, Tarnobrzeg and Sandomierz.

Regional governor Ewa Leniart says four of the injured have undergone surgery and two of them are in critical condition. She says five women and four men between 50 and 18 were wounded.