A bloodsoaked man stumbled into a supermarket this morning after the fourth stabbing in Dalston in the space of nine days.

Police and medics were called to Kingsland Road just after 10.45am and he was taken to hospital.

Scotland Yard this afternoon said his injuries were not thought to be life-threatening – though at one stage in the aftermath of the attack he was believed to be critically hurt.

No one has been arrested over the incident, which follows three stabbings around the nearby Mayville Estate in less than a week.

The victim, described by witnesses as black and in his late teens, had stumbled into Tesco Express following the attack and was said to be bleeding heavily. A pool of blood a foot wide and a pile of clothes remained on the floor of the shop three hours later.

Store manager Maz Mohamed told the Gazette: “There was lots of blood. A lady behind him told him to come into the store because it would be safe.

“At first we didn’t know he was the one bleeding but then a customer left the till and saw him bleeding.

“Everyone started shouting, there was lots of blood. He was losing consciousness and we held him and let him lie down on the floor.

“Some people were talking to him but he didn’t say anything the whole time about being hurt or in pain. According to the ambulance and police he had been stabbed three times.”

Balls Pond Road is taped off at the junction with Kingsland Road while police investigate. The victim’s next of kin have been contacted, Scotland Yard said.

On Tuesday last week an 18-year-old man was hospitalised after being knifed in King Henry’s Walk, leading Islington police to set up a 48-hour dispersal zone on the estate.

Then, on Monday night, two more men were found stabbed after police were called to a “shooting” in Templeton Close.

On arrival, armed officers found two injured men, both in their 20s. One had been stabbed and the other shot with a pellet gun.

They were both taken to hospital as a priority by medics but are now said to be in stable condition.

Minutes later officers found a 17-year-old boy lying in Stoke Newington Road after being slashed with a knife. Witnesses told of a heavy police presence as the teenager lay injured in the street and he was also rushed to hospital in serious condition.

A boy was later arrested on suspicion of possessing an offensive weapon with the intent to endanger life and possession of class A drugs.

Anyone with information about the stabbings is asked to call police on 101 or 0800 500 111.