An attacker armed with a knife stabbed and killed one woman and wounded another five people at a library in the Canadian city of Vancouver on Saturday, police said.

Members of the RCMP are seen outside of the Lynn Valley Library, in North Vancouver, British Columbia, Saturday, March 27, 2021. Photo: VCG

Although the motive for the attack was not immediately clear, police said they had arrested a suspect who had a criminal record and was believed to have acted on his own.

The suspect was expected to be questioned by detectives later in the evening.

"We know - we believe we know - the who, the what, the where and the when. It is our job now to determine the why," said Sergeant Frank Jang of the Vancouver police department.

"We haven't spoken with him yet, but our suspect has had police interactions in the past. He has a past criminal record," Jang told reporters at the scene of the crime.

The stabbings took place in the afternoon in and near the library in an upscale neighborhood of the Pacific coast city. 

Andrew Cocking, who lives 500 meters from the library, told AFP that the area where the attack took place was generally very quiet. "I saw people getting tended to by paramedics, they were being given first aid next to a vehicle and also next to a restaurant, and pulled away on stretchers. It was quite sad, especially because apparently one of them was a child."