British police on Tuesday arrested a man armed with a sword who allegedly attacked several people in Hainault, east London, the UK capital's authorities announced.

The Metropolitan Police said it had received an alert shortly before 07:00 that a vehicle had been driven into a house in the Thurlow Gardens area and that several people had been stabbed.

At least two police officers were injured and an undetermined number of civilians were attacked, but the seriousness of the injuries is not yet known.

The Daily Telegraph quotes a witness as saying that four people were stabbed. The London Ambulance Service said that five people were taken to hospital with injuries.

Images shared on social media show the man with a sword in his hand.

An eyewitness told the BBC that there seemed to be a standoff between the police and the suspect in an alleyway, before hearing a woman screaming.

"I also heard the words 'he has a huge knife', or 'he has a huge sword'," confessed the witness, who asked not to be identified.

An eyewitness told the BBC that there seemed to be a standoff between the police and the suspect in an alleyway, before hearing a woman screaming.

"I also heard the words 'he has a huge knife', or 'he has a huge sword'," confessed the witness, who asked not to be identified.

The police "entered the alley and there seemed to be some kind of standoff where I heard a big commotion and then I heard a scream," he said.

"I heard a woman screaming and then some kind of sobbing. Then I heard a voice saying something like 'she's been stabbed in the face', or 'we need help', you know, calling for medical support," he concluded.

"He ran through the gardens and out into the street next to the house I live next to," said another witness.

"The police were there. Then he ran two doors down and tried to climb onto some sort of scaffolding, and they shocked him and took him down, and he had a big samurai sword, a big sword, like a Japanese-looking sword. It wasn't a small knife", he confesses: "I saw it all from my bedroom window".

"It doesn't look like terrorism"
The police have indicated that a 36-year-old man was arrested at the scene and have ruled out terrorism for the time being.

"We don't believe there is any current threat to the wider community. We are not looking for any more suspects. This incident does not appear to be related to terrorism," said deputy commissioner Ade Adelekan.

Meanwhile, some stations and roads in the area have been closed, says Ilford North MP Wes Streeting. Hainault subway station in London has been closed and local buses are being diverted, according to Transport for London.