Two people were killed and one seriously injured in a knife attack at an Ikea store in the city of Vasteras, about an hour west of the Swedish capital Stockholm, police said on Monday.

Local police said they had been called to the store around 1300 CET (1100 GMT).

"We found a man and a woman who had knife injuries and who later died of their wounds," local police said in a statement. The motive of the attack was unclear.

A 35 year-old man was seriously injured, Swedish television reported.

"He was brought in from the site of the incident with life-threatening injuries," Lena Moren, head duty nurse at Vasteras hospital, told the SVT public broadcaster.

Police had cordoned off the Ikea store and begun interviewing witnesses.

SVT showed pictures of one person been loaded into an ambulance with hundreds of shoppers outside the cordoned off store in shorts and summer clothes in bright sunshine. - Reuters