Three children were killed and 10 people injured after stabbing at a children's dance class in northwest England. The incident occurred on Monday.
Reports said a 17-year-old boy was arrested and a knife seized after the bloody attack.
AP report quoting an eyewitness described seeing bloodied children running from a community centre where a Taylor Swift-themed dance and yoga event for children aged about 6 to 11 was taking place in Southport, a seaside town near Liverpool.
An advertisement for the event promised "a morning of Taylor Swift-themed yoga, dance and bracelet making."
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer called the attack "horrendous and deeply shocking."
UK Police has termed the stabbing as "major incident" but said there was no wider threat to the public.
Reports said the detectives were not treating the attack as terror-related.
It is said that the suspect, who has not been identified, lived in a village about 5 miles (8 kilometres) from the site of the attack.
At least eight people were treated for stab injuries including children, reports said.
UK worst attack on children occurred in 1996, when 43-year-old Thomas Hamilton shot 16 kindergarten pupils and their teacher dead in a school gymnasium in Dunblane, Scotland. The UK subsequently banned the private ownership of almost all handguns.
Mass shootings and murders with firearms are rare in UK, where knives were used in about 40 per cent of homicides in the year to March 2023.
Recently, there has been spike in knife crimes which have stoked anxieties and led to calls for the government to do more to clamp down on bladed weapons.
King Charles ’profoundly shocked’: King Charles and Queen Camilla said they were “profoundly shocked” over the incident.
“My wife and I have been profoundly shocked to hear of the utterly horrific incident in Southport,” the King said in a statement released by Buckingham Palace.
"We send our most heartfelt condolences, prayers and deepest sympathies to the families and loved ones of those who have so tragically lost their lives, and to all those affected by this truly appalling attack,” he said.
In a separate statement, the Prince and Princess of Wales — William and Kate Middleton — said as parents they "could not begin to imagine what the families, friends and loved ones of those killed and injured in Southport today are going through".
Prince William and Kate added: "We send our love, thoughts and prayers to all those involved in this horrid and heinous attack."
