Two people have been killed and another seriously injured in a knife attack at an Ikea store in Vasteras in Sweden, according to police.

The dead are a man and a woman, police said in a statement. A man has been arrested on suspicion of murder.

Ikea spokeswoman Anna Pilkrona-Godden said that the Erikslund shopping centre containing the store had been closed.

The injured victim is a man of about 35, Swedish television reported, citing eyewitnesses.

Officers were called to the store at 13:00 (11:00 GMT) and found three people with knife injuries in the kitchenware section, police spokesman Per Stromback told reporters at the scene.

"The suspect had stabbed three people, of whom two died at the scene and one is very seriously injured and is being operated on," Mr Stromback said.

"We do not have a motive at the moment," he added.

The injured victim arrived at Vasteras hospital with life-threatening injuries, head nurse Lena Moren told Sweden's SVT public broadcaster.

The victims were "ordinary shoppers", Mattias Johansson, the store manager, told local newspaper VLT. They were known to one another, police said.

Several ambulances were at the scene and the area was cordoned off by police, eyewitnesses said.

"Our thoughts are with those affected," said Mrs Pilkrona-Godden.

The Ikea store in Vasteras, which is about 70 miles (115km) west of the capital Stockholm, is one of the largest in the country.

BBC