Auckland, Sep 3 (IANS): A man was shot dead by New Zealand police on Friday after assaulting at least six people at a supermarket in Auckland city and the incident has been termed by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern as a "terrorist attack" carried out by a Sri Lankan national who was under surveillance.

Several shoppers were understood to have suffered serious injuries and have been taken to the Auckland City Hospital's emergency department with status 1, meaning the life-threatening condition, Xinhua news agency quoted the NZ Herald newspaper as saying in a reported.

Auckland police confirmed that a man in a supermarket injured multiple people, who was shot and died at the scene.

Armed police have blocked off the roads nearby and at least 10 police vehicles were currently around the mall, where the supermarket is located.

Addressing the media after the incident, Ardern said the perpetrator was killed within 60 seconds of the attack by police, the BBC reported.

"What happened today was despicable, it was hateful it was wrong," she said.

Ardern said said the man had arrived in New Zealand in October 2011 and became a person of national security interest in 2016, adding that "he been under constant monitoring and heavy surveillance due to concerns about his ideology".