A knife-wielding woman wearing a headscarf chased shoppers through a busy town centre shouting 'kill, kill, kill' and 'I'm not a terrorist', shocked eyewitnesses have said.
South Yorkshire Police put the town centre on lockdown amid a 'serious incident' at around 8.20am this morning.
Police have confirmed a person was arrested after a man was stabbed today, although there has been an ongoing investigation as to whether more people were involved in the attack.
While police have not confirmed whether the gender of the arrested suspect, a number of witnesses said the attacker was an Asian female wearing a headscarf.
She reportedly stabbed one man in the shoulder after chasing him through the town centre. She tried to stab several others, including a window cleaner and market stall holder, before she was arrested in the train station.
Clothing stall owner Abdul Razzaq, 43, saw the woman unbox a brand new knife, which he described as being as long as from his elbow to his fingertips, and through the packaging in a nearby bin.
Mr Razzaq said: 'She started shouting "kill, kill, kill" and was waving the knife around.
'Everybody was scared and people scattered.'
Mr Razzaq confronted the woman as she approached him with the knife, where she stood just feet away from him wielding the blade.
He confronted the woman as she approached him with the knife and she stood just a couple of feet away wielding the blade.
'I told her "don't touch anybody, hurt, me, kill me, but don't touch the other people,"' said Mr Razzaq.
'She kept shouting "kill, kill, kill, kill, kill" over and over again. I told her 'you are a terrorist' and she said "I'm no terrorist".'
Craig Ward, 24, who runs an artificial flowers stall, said: 'It was frightening, really terrifying seeing a woman running around with a great knife stabbing random people.'
Mr Ward said: 'All she was shouting was "kill, kill, kill' and looked frantic," said Mr Ward.
'One man grabbed a metal market stall pole to scare her off.
'I couldn't believe what I was seeing, it is not what you expect on a Saturday morning.'
South Yorkshire Police said the victim suffered minor injuries.
In a statement, they said: 'Police then received numerous further reports of an individual in the town centre with a knife.
'One person has been arrested in connection with the incident and is in police custody. One man suffered minor injuries.'
Crime scene investigators have been spotted at the scene collecting evidence.
Hannah Fuller, 24, a member of staff at the Subway sandwich shop, said officers rushed towards the railway platform and businesses had been forced to close for an hour.
She told the Press Association: 'We had to close for an hour - Peel Street was closed. The police haven't told us anything.'
A man who works in a shop in Barnsley Interchange said: 'We saw all the police running round.'
The man, who did not want to be named, said it was business as usual in his store but confirmed that he saw police 'running through the bus station'.
Police urged members of the public to be vigilant and report any suspicious activity.
