Melbourne car attack: See photos from Flinders Street

Two men were arrested in Australia after the SUV in which they were travelling rammed into pedestrians on a busy central Melbourne street Thursday, leaving 14 people injured in what police believe was a deliberate act. Victoria state police said the driver of the vehicle and a second man were in custody after the incident, which occurred on Flinders Street in the city’s central business district just after 4:45 p.m. when the area was busy with Christmas shoppers, reports news agency AP. Commander Russell Barrett told media that while the motive of the incident was not immediately clear, “at this stage we believe it was a deliberate act.” (Reuters)

Victoria state police said the driver of the vehicle and a second man were in custody after the incident, which occurred on Flinders Street in the city’s central business district just after 4:45 p.m. when the area was busy with Christmas shoppers.(Twitter/@LACHLANVE/via Reuters)

Almost 19 people were injured in the incident. (Twitter/@LACHLANVE/via Reuters)

A police officers detain a suspect, following a vehicle incident, outside Flinders Street station in Melbourne, Australia, December 21, 2017 in this still image taken from video footage obtained from social media. (Twitter/@LACHLANVE/via Reuters)

In this photo made video from the Australian Broadcasting Corp., a white SUV vehicle is stopped after allegedly striking pedestrians, Thursday, Dec. 21, in Melbourne, Australia. Local media say over a dozen people have been injured after a car drove into pedestrians on a sidewalk in central Melbourne. (Australian Broadcast Corp via AP)

Several were taken to hospitals, and two were in critical condition, including a pre-school aged boy with head injuries. (Twitter / @LACHLANVE /via Reuters)

Emergency services attend to injured people at the in Flinders St station in Melbourne, Australia, December 21, in this image taken from video footage. (Lutania Karyadi/via Reuers)

Pedestrians walk past as police and emergency services attend the scene of an incident involving a vehicle and pedestrians in Melbourne, Thursday. (Kaitlyn Offer/AAP Image via AP)

Police and emergency services attend to the scene of the incident on Flinders Street, as seen from Swanson Street, in Melbourne. (Nine Network/Reuters TV via Reuters)

The SUV ran a red light outside the city’s iconic Flinders Street train station and sped up to hit pedestrians crossing the road, striking more than a dozen people before crashing into a traffic barrier near a cable car stop. (Nine Network/Reuters TV via Reuters)

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull sent a tweet calling the incident “shocking” and said his thoughts and prayers were with the victims and those treating them. (AAP/Joe Castro via Reuers)

Australian police and paramedics are seen near the place where they arrested the driver of a vehicle that had ploughed into pedestrians at a crowded intersection near the Flinders Street train station, in central Melbourne, Australia, December 21. (Reuters)

Police said officers have been deployed across the area and the site would be closed-off as a crime scene for some time. (Reuters)

It’s the second time this year that Melbourne, regularly ranked one of the world’s most livable cities, has been traumatized by a car attack. (Reuters)

In January, six people were killed and more than 30 were injured when a car was driven up a footpath in Bourke Street, near Thursday’s incident. (Reuters)

There have been a number of car attacks in other parts of the world in recent years, many of them linked to terrorism. (Reuters)