Image copyright Reuters Image caption Police say the incident is currently under investigation

A knife attack in southern China has left six people dead, local police say.

Five people were stabbed to death before the attacker was shot dead by police, in Changsha, Hunan's provincial capital, on Friday, police said.

A dispute erupted between two vendors, and one killed the other with a knife, police said. The man then stabbed four passersby, police added.

China remains nervous after a stabbing spree in Yunnan province on 1 March left 29 people dead and 143 wounded.

However, an unnamed official in Changsha told AFP news agency: "I can assure you it's not a terror attack. It happened in a market due to some dispute."

The incident is currently under investigation, Changsha police said in a statement on their verified microblog.

The scuffle is believed to have broke out around 10:15am local time (02:15 GMT). Two of the passersby died at the scene, while the two others died later in hospital.

Earlier reports in Chinese media had said there were several attackers, with reports saying that three attackers had escaped.