Police shot and wounded a 19-year-old Afghan man with a German residence permit immediately after the attack and are questioning him as a suspect.

A dramatic photo captured by a passerby shows two police officers pointing their pistols at a man wearing jeans and sneakers lying on the ground inside a tunnel in the station.

The stabbings occurred shortly after noon (1000 GMT; 6 a.m. EDT) on Friday at Central Station in downtown Amsterdam: "Something happened, we don't know yet what, but during that two people were stabbed and one person with a knife in his hand walked away and he was shot by police," police spokesman Rob van der Veen said Friday.

Central Station is a busy entry and exit point for visitors to Amsterdam, with regular trains linking it to the city's Schiphol Airport. Friday is one of the busiest days of the week for train travel as tourists arrive for the weekend.