Counter terror police are investigating after three people were 'randomly' stabbed inside Manchester's Arndale centre.

Witness screamed in terror as they fled after the attacker reportedly 'lunged' at people.

Two women, including a 19-year-old, and a man in his 50s were taken to hospital with knife injuries - and a third woman who wasn't stabbed needed treatment at the scene from paramedics.

A 41-year-old man from the Manchester area has been arrested on suspicion of terror offences and the centre remains on lockdown this afternoon.

It is understood police are treating the incident as a ‘lone wolf’ attack.

A photo shows a man lying face down while police point Tasers at him. Another image shows a victim being treated by paramedics inside Starbucks.

Are you in the Manchester Arndale centre? Email pictures and video to webnews@mirror.co.uk

(Image: Manchester Evening News WS)

Follow our live blog for the latest information about this incident as it unfolds.

Assistant Chief Constable Russ Jackson said: "At 11.15am this morning, a man entered the Arndale shopping centre in Manchester city centre.

"He was armed with a large knife and as he entered Exchange Court began lunging, attacking people with the knife.

"Two unarmed police community support officers were in Exchange Court and attempted to confront the attacker.

"He then chased them with the knife as they were calling for urgent assistance.

"The man attacked people around him and we understand five people were injured by him.

"Although the injuries are nasty, we are told that, thankfully, none are life-threatening."

Police have not explained the discrepancy between the figures by the press office and those given in the press conference.

Janet Loudon, 21, said she saw a man being "very hostile towards an Arndale worker", adding: "It wasn’t clear what the man was saying but he was swearing and telling the public ‘I’m going to f*** you up’ repeatedly and he got more and more agitated.

“I carried on walking but saw police run inside the Arndale and heard someone shout ‘knife’ – I was frantically looking for my friend.

“That was when I heard that people had been stabbed and everyone was panicking and frantic. We saw a victim slouched between an ATM which was a horrific sight and she was taken away to be helped.”

A shop worker, who gave his name only as Jordan, 23, told the PA news agency: "A man was running around with a knife lunging at multiple people, one of which came into my store visibly shaken with a small graze.

"Soon after, security staff told all retail staff to close their doors and move the public to the back of the stores."

Jordan, who has only been working at the centre for a few months, said the attack took place on the ground floor.

A senior source told the MEN terrorism was not being ruled out because of what the man said at the scene, during and after the attack.

The man arrested by police has now been transferred into the custody of specialist anti-terror officers.

Greater Manchester Police said: "At this stage we believe that four people were injured during the incident – not five as previously reported. We will update as the situation becomes clear."

(Image: Cavendish Press)

Police said the casualties were:

A 19-year-old woman with stab wounds whose condition is stable.

Another woman whose name is not clear who has stab injuries and is in a stable condition.

A man in his 50s who has stab wounds.

A third woman who is in her 40s and was not stabbed. She was assessed and did not need to go to hospital.

North West Ambulance Service said it had treated four people after being called at 11.17am.

A large police cordon has been put in place as police secure the scene.

Armed police officers are patrolling inside the shopping mall.

And air ambulance helicopters arrived at the centre shortly after 12pm.

(Image: PA)

Five fire engines are in the nearby Piccdailly Gardens close to the centre.

Firefighters are communicating with the police and paramedics as part of a 'gold' meeting to assess the nature of the attack.

Although the centre has been evacuated there are reports that people have been locked inside the Arndale for their own safety.

(Image: Manchester Evening News WS)

A floor manager in one of the centre's shops told of the moment she found out about the incident.

"I was an announcement over the radio saying 'do not evacuate yet but something has happened'," she said.

"We got told to put our shutters down and then wait.

"We opened the shutters and the tannoy said 'evacuate', so we were gone.

(Image: Copyright Cavendish Press)

"When we first came out, no one knew what was going on. Now we've heard it is awful."

Prime Minister Boris Johnson tweeted his thanks to the emergency services, writing: "Shocked by the incident in Manchester and my thoughts are with the injured and all those affected.

"Thank you to our excellent emergency services who responded and who are now investigating what happened."

Bev Hughes, Greater Manchester's deputy mayor for policing, crime and fire, added: "I want to praise Greater Manchester's emergency services for their swift and professional action.

"Our thoughts are with the five people injured. The scene has been secured and all emergency services are engaged in ensuring public safety - the investigation is ongoing."

(Image: Copyright Cavendish Press)

The shutters have been pulled down over the windows of shops including Boots and Vodafone.

Freddie Houlder, 22, said: “I was in Office about 10 meters away from where someone potentially got stabbed.

“I was in the shop, a woman came in really quickly.

“She had been grazed by a knife, they locked the doors, they evacuated the shop 15 minutes after.

“They put curtains around where people have been stabbed.

(Image: Copyright Cavendish Press)

“The woman was standing outside the shop. They caught the guy. She burst into tears, she was so lucky she was wearing a thick jacket.

“He was running around going for as many people as possible.”

One office worker in the Arndale Tower said workers were being told to stay inside.

He said: “There are hundreds of us in the offices up here. Our information is quite limited. They aren’t letting us out of the office at the minute.

“I assume they think we’re safe up here. We’re not allowed into the main Arndale shopping centre.

“There’s just a lot of confusion and panic up here, they just aren’t letting any of us out of the lobby.”

(Image: @DaveBespoke /Twitter)

The Arndale Centre is just a few hundred yards from the Manchester Arena and Victoria railway station - both of which have been the scene of recent terror attacks.

Twenty-two people were killed in May 2017 when Salman Abedi detonated a suicide bomb in the Manchester Arena following an Ariane Grande concert - the youngest victim was just eight years old.

Last New Year's Eve, three people including a police officer were seriously injured after a 25-year-old man launched a knife attack on passers-by.

The suspect was heard to shout "Allah" and "Long live the Caliphate" during the incident - he was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder and his since been detained under the Mental Health Act.

In 1996, the Arndale Centre was damaged in a major bomb attack by the IRA in which a 1,500-kilograms device loaded on a lorry was detonated on Corporation Street.

More than 200 people were injured in the explosion, although there were no fatalities.

Anyone with information about today's incident should call police on 101 quoting incident number 1055 of 11/10/2019, or the independent charity Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111.