A MAN has been arrested after a police officer was attacked with a machete.

A major police incident was triggered in Trafford this afternoon after a man was seen wielding a machete/sword in Upper Chorlton Road, close to popular bars.

A police officer was slashed across the face and is being treated in hospital with what police are calling "serious injuries".

A witness to the incident said: “Initially, we thought he had come out of one of the bars but he had actually been pursued by police from Park Road and College Road.

“He was looking like he was going to attack anybody he could find, but the police were really quick and ordered him to put the sword down but he refused and continued to swing it about.

“They Tasered him at least five times, but he was still wielding it and as the police confronted him he slashed one of them across the face and injured another before they dived on him.

“The policemen were taken to hospital but the whole incident was really frightening, goodness knows what he could have done if the police had not been there.”

The area remains cordoned off.