BEIJING: Police in the Chinese capital Beijing detained a man on Sunday after a knife attack in a busy shopping district that injured at least one person.

Beijing police said in a short statement the man had been detained after a knife attack at the Joy City Mall in the Xidan district of the capital.

Police acted quickly in handling the incident and the injured had been sent to hospital, they said. An investigation was underway.

The official Xinhua news agency said an unknown number of people had been injured. It did not give details.

Beijing radio showed pictures on their WeChat account of blood spattered on the floor in part of the mall and at least one injured person being taken from the scene.

Violent crime is rare in China compared with many other countries, especially in major cities where security is tight, but there has been a series of knife and axe attacks in recent years, many targeting children.

In 2015, police arrested a sword-wielding man who killed a Chinese woman and injured a French man in Beijing's fashionable Sanlitun shopping and entertainment district.