BYSTANDERS SUBDUE STABBING SUSPECT

Police praised “heroic” bystanders for disrupting a frenzied knife attack at a New Zealand grocery store on Monday.

A man wielding two knives allegedly stabbed four people, three of them critically, before he was detained by onlookers and held until police arrived at the supermarket in Dunedin, a university town of around 130,000 people on New Zealand's South Island.

Surveillance footage of the attack showed the actions of the bystanders were “nothing short of heroic,” said New Zealand Police Superintendent Paul Basham.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said the motivation for Monday's attack had not been established but police didn't have any evidence to suggest it was domestic terrorism.

Five people were taken to hospital following Monday's incident, including the alleged attacker, who was under police guard. Two of the injured were supermarket workers.

The man was expected to appear in court Tuesday.