Two people have been killed and three injured in two stabbing incidents in the southern Dutch city of Maastricht, authorities said.

Police said in a tweet that one suspect had been detained on suspicion of involvement in the incidents. They released no details on the suspect or the victims.

Prime Minister Mark Rutte said it was not a terror attack, echoing comments from the police.

"It is terrible what happened there. People were killed and others were injured," Rutte said at an EU summit in Brussels.

The incidents happened in a residential neighbourhood in the north of Maastricht, a city 215 kilometres south of the capital, Amsterdam, and close to the Netherlands' borders with Belgium and Germany.

Police said a man was stabbed to death during a fight and a suspect fled the scene.

Ten minutes later a woman was fatally stabbed and two men injured about a kilometre away from the first incident. A third wounded person was later found at a local mosque.

Police said the investigations are continuing.