A man stabbed Gibraltar’s Justice Minister in the back with a long bladed knife yesterday as he walked with his young children in the centre of the tiny British territory, Gibraltar police said.

The 43-year-old minister, Daniel Feetham, underwent surgery after the “unprovoked” attack and is in stable condition in hospital, a police statement said.

“Mr Feetham’s injuries were serious but he is now in stable condition and there is no fear for his life,” it said.

Police detained the assailant in the area of the attack. They gave no possible motive for the stabbing.

Spain ceded Gibraltar to Britain in 1713 under the Treaty of Utrecht but has long argued that it should be returned to Spanish sovereignty. Britain has said it will not renounce sovereignty against the wishes of Gibraltarians.

The 6.5-square-kilometre territory at the entrance to the Mediterranean Sea is home to roughly 30,000 people.

Now a haven for tourism, shipping and offshore banking because of its favourable tax laws, Gibraltar’s inhabitants overwhelmingly rejected an Anglo-Spanish proposal for co-sovereignty in a 2002 referendum.