A teenage girl has been shot by police as she allegedly wielded a knife during an altercation with officers.

Police said a 17-year-old girl was armed with a knife and was making threats at the West End Hotel on Ingham Rd in Townsville just before 5.30pm on Tuesday.

“The female armed with the knife came at police and was subsequently shot in the abdomen,” Queensland Police said.

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Officers provided first aid before she was taken to Townsville University Hospital for treatment.

She is understood to have undergone surgery and is now in a stable condition.

A witness reported hearing police order the girl to stop before a gunshot rang out.

“I heard police telling her to stop. She had a knife, like a carving knife or something, and she kept moving towards the female cop and then they shot,” the witness told The Courier Mail.

Other witnesses told 7NEWS they heard “one big bang”, thinking it was a car back-firing, before police arrived in numbers “straight away”.

An investigation into the incident is underway.

“The Ethical Standards Command is investigating the incident, with the investigation subject to oversight by the Crime and Corruption Commission,” police said.

The incident comes three months after Queensland police shot dead a wanted man near a Gold Coast college.

A man armed with a knife was also shot by officers when he allegedly made threats inside a home in the Townsville suburb of Vincent in January.