Three people have been feared dead and another three injured in connected “horrific and tragic” attacks in Nottingham, the United Kingdom.

According to BBC, two people believed to have been stabbed, were found dead by police in Ilkeston Road just after 4:00 am on Tuesday.

Officers were then called to Milton Street where a van had attempted to run over three people, and the police who have arrested a man on suspicion of murder, later found another man dead on Magdala Road.

The 31-year-old is currently in custody and the city centre has been locked down, according to BBC.

Police said the three people involved in the van attack in Milton Street were receiving treatment in hospital.

Chief Constable Kate Meynell, from Nottinghamshire Police, said the force believed all three incidents were linked.

“This is a horrific and tragic incident which has claimed the lives of three people,” she said.

“This investigation is at its early stages and a team of detectives is working to establish exactly what has happened. We ask the public to be patient while inquiries continue.”

A source told BBC that he witnessed a young man and young woman being stabbed in Ilkeston Road, close to the junction with Bright Street, at about 04:00.

The man, who asked to remain anonymous, said he heard “awful, blood-curdling screams” and saw a man dressed in black, with a hood and rucksack, “grappling with some people”.

“It was a girl, and a man or boy she was with – they looked quite young,” he said.

“She was screaming ‘help!’ I just wish I’d shouted something out of the window to unnerve the assailant.

“I saw him stab the lad first and then the woman. It was repeated stabbing – four or five times. The lad collapsed in the middle of the road.

“The girl stumbled towards a house and didn’t move. The next minute she had disappeared down the side of a house, and that’s where they found her.”