On Friday, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said that police shot and killed a "violent extremist" who was known to them after he stabbed and injured at least six people in an Auckland supermarket.

"A violent extremist undertook a terrorist attack on innocent New Zealanders," Ardern said at a press conference.

The man, a Sri Lankan national who arrived in New Zealand in 2011 and was on a terror alert, allegedly entered a shopping center in suburban Auckland, snatched a knife off a display, and went on a stabbing rampage, according to Ardern.

She stated the man was killed about 60 seconds after launching the attack and was inspired by the Islamic State (IS).

Six people were injured, three of them critically, she added, before police watching him opened fire 60 seconds after the attack began.

"What happened today was despicable; it was hateful, it was wrong," Ardern said, adding that it did not reflect any faith or culture.

Due to court suppression orders, Ardern said she was constrained in what she could say publicly about the guy, who had been under observation since 2016.

According to Police Commissioner Andrew Coster, police were certain that the man was operating alone and that the community was not in any danger.

'He's got a knife.'

A video shared to social media shortly after the attacker hit showed shoppers in the New Lynn supermarket.

A lady can be heard stating, "There's someone here with a knife... he's got a knife," "Somebody got stabbed."

Shortly before six gunfire went out, a guard advised customers to evacuate the shopping complex.

Three of the six injured people were in critical condition. According to a statement sent by the St John ambulance service to Reuters, one was in serious condition, and the other was in moderate condition.

Witnesses said they saw numerous people lying on the ground with stab wounds outside the mall. As they fled out of the supermarket, others claimed they heard gunfire.

Earlier videos on the internet showed anxious shoppers fleeing the mall in search of safety.

New Zealand has been on high alert for strikes since a white supremacist shooter massacred 51 people at two mosques in Christchurch on March 15, 2019.

In Dunedin, New Zealand's South Island, four people were stabbed in a shop in May.