COPENHAGEN: A Danish policeman was in critical condition after being stabbed on Tuesday at the country's largest reception center for asylum seekers, sparking a manhunt in the area.

The officer was critically wounded after being stabbed several times in the stomach, but police said his condition was stable.

It was not immediately clear whether the perpetrator was an asylum seeker.

"We are investigating that to find out, so we don't know that yet," local police spokesman Henrik Suhr told AFP.

"We think it's one (perpetrator) but we cannot rule out that it's more than one," he added.

A large area had been cordoned off around the former military barracks at Center Sandholm, Denmark's largest institution for asylum seekers, which currently houses around 600 people.
The facility, which lies around 20 kilometers (12 miles) northwest of Copenhagen, receives newly-arrived asylum seekers as well as those who have had their applications rejected and are due to leave the country.

Since Europe's refugee crisis began spilling into Denmark on September 6, at least 17,700 migrants have entered the country, according to police figures, but most have continued to neighbouring Sweden, which has more generous asylum rules.

Over the past three weeks, around 100 people per day have been applying for asylum, the Danish Immigration Service said.