An ISIS-inspired “known threat” to New Zealand has carried out a terror attack in Auckland, stabbing six people in a supermarket before being shot and killed by police.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has condemned the attack, which has left three in a critical condition, as “senseless”.

The shock incident took place on Friday afternoon at a Countdown supermarket at New Lynn, a southwest suburb of Auckland.

Police Commissioner Andy Coster said the man, who was under constant surveillance because of his radical ideology, carried out the attack around 2:40pm.

Mr Coster said the man grabbed a knife within the store, and “when the commotion started”, two officers engaged him, shooting him within 60 seconds of the attack.

“I acknowledge this situation raises questions about whether police could have done more, whether police could have intervened more quickly,” Mr Coster said.

“I’m satisfied … the staff involved did not only what we expect they would do in this situation, but did it with great courage.”

Mr Coster said police consider the man a “lone actor”, and there is no ongoing threat to the public.

St John say three patients are in a critical condition at Auckland City Hospital.

A further three patients – one in a serious condition and two in moderate conditions – have also been taken to hospitals across Auckland.

Details on the attacker are limited due to court-ordered suppression orders.

However, Ms Ardern said the “violent extremist” was a Sri Lankan national who arrived in 2011 and was on a terror watchlist from 2016.

“I can tell you that agencies were using every single possible means available to them to protect the New Zealand public from this individual. Every single possible means,” she said.

“It was senseless and I’m so sorry that happened.”

Newshub reports the man yelled “Allahu Akbar” as he attacked.

Ms Ardern said she did not want to see a backlash against any community from the incident.

“What happened today was despicable. It was hateful. It was wrong,” she said,

“It was carried out by an individual, not a faith, not a culture, not an ethnicity,, but by an individual person who was gripped by ideology that is not supported here.

“He alone carries the responsibility for these acts.”

Frightening first-hand reports have emerged in the hours since the attack.

Local man Amit Nand was at the supermarket during the attack.

“People were running up to me saying ‘go outside because people are being stabbed’ … I saw him with a knife,” Newshub reports.

“I went past him, I went by him with another guy and I told him to ‘drop the f***ing knife.”

Mr Nand says he was then approached by an undercover cop.

“The cop is like ‘get back’ and he started shooting him five times and killed him.”

Michelle Miller, a resident of nearby Avondale, told Radio NZ she saw a man “running around with a knife, then he just lost the plot”.

“It’s horrific. I feel sorry for the Countdown staff, I feel sorry for the people who were actually hurt here today,” she said.

“The police have done an amazing job. They had the guy try to give himself up but he wouldn’t. It’s really sad that they had to do what they had to do.”

Countdown spokeswoman Kiri Hannifin said staff were “devastated” by the attack.

“Our hearts are heavy knowing what our team and customers have witnessed and been through,” she said in a statement.

New Zealand is currently in a national lockdown to fight a COVID-19 outbreak, with Auckland at strict level four settings.

AAP

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