Police said they were searching for a man in relation to a two-hour stabbing spree in the city of Birmingham, central England, early on Sunday, that left one man dead and seven people injured, two of them critically.
The knife attacks happened in four locations in the city centre starting from 00:30 (2330 GMT), police said.
“We are treating all four of those incidents as a linked series,” West Midlands Police Chief Superintendent Steve Graham said.
“We are searching for one suspect and inquiries to identify and then trace that suspect are ongoing.”
He said there was no suggestion that the attacks were targeted at any section of the community or were gang related.
“At this stage we can’t find a particular motive, but it does appear to be random in terms of the selection of people who were attacked,” he said.
Britain’s Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said he had no information to indicate the incidents were terrorism related but the public should stay “very vigilant”.
The first stabbing was in Constitution Hill, police said, and the suspect then moved from north to south, to Livery Street, Irving Street and ending at Hurst Street.
The final location is an area known as the city’s Gay Village, where people had been seated at outdoor tables eating and drinking.
A knife was visible to a Reuters witness beside a drain in Edmund Street, near to the second location.
Graham said it was “way too early” to say if the knife was connected to the incident.Police in Birmingham, a city in England's West Midlands region, has said there was a "major incident" after reports surfaced of a number of people injured in stabbings early on Sunday.
"We can confirm that at approximately 12:30am today [Sunday], we were called to reports of a stabbing in Birmingham city centre," West Midlands Police said in a statement.
"A number of other stabbings were reported in the area shortly after and "this has been declared a major incident", the statement added.
"We are aware of a number of injured people, but at the moment we are not in a position to say how many or how serious."
Footage aired on British television news channels shows large areas of the city centre cordoned off as police officers wearing forensic suits work at the scene.
The BBC said the incidents occurred near the area known as the Gay Village in the centre of Birmingham, where many people had been seated at outdoor tables eating and drinking.
"Work is still going on to establish what has happened, and could take some time before we are in a position to confirm anything," West Midlands Police said.
"At this early stage, it would not be appropriate to speculate on the causes of the incident."
Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said it was "a very serious incident. Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families."
He said he had no information suggesting the stabbings were related to terrorism.
Emergency services were at the scene to ensure the injured received medical care. Police said the response would continue "for some time" and urged people to stay away from the area.
Cara Curran, a club promoter, said she saw multiple people fighting in the street.
"It was one group of boys against another group of boys," she told the BBC, adding that "racial slurs" were being thrown.
Meanwhile, West Midlands Mayor Andy Street said the series of incidents in the Hurst Street area of the city centre appeared to be related but the motivation for them was not yet understood.
He urged people "to not speculate about the incident" and to "remain calm but vigilant."
