Dutch police were hunting an assailant who stabbed three minors in the Dutch city The Hague’s main shopping street as people looked for bargains on Black Friday, reports AFP.

The male attacker ran off after the incident at a department store in the city centre that caused scenes of panic among the crowds of shoppers.

All three victims were minors, police said, without giving their ages. They were all later allowed to go home from hospital.

The stabbing happened at the Hudson’s Bay department store in Grote Marktstraat, the city’s biggest shopping area, which is lined with major retailers and brands.

Two teenage girls came running into the store after being stabbed, broadcaster NOS quoted witnesses as saying.

“We are still looking for the perpetrator,” they said, adding that they were conducting “extensive investigations”.

Emergency vehicles

Police helicopters flew overhead and several emergency vehicles were on site.

The stabbing took place not far from parliament, which is the seat of government for the Netherlands and home to many international organisations.

The US embassy warned its nationals in The Hague to avoid the area because of “reports of a security incident.”

Dutch police on Monday arrested two suspected jihadists, one of them in The Hague, and charged them with planning a terror attack using suicide and car bombs.