A New Zealand Herald newspaper delivery driver is undergoing surgery after he was stabbed at an Auckland service station this morning.

The driver was in the forecourt of the Gull station, off East Tamaki Road in Otara, at around 3am, when two men approached and stabbed him.

East Tamaki New Zealand Herald franchisee Farhad Umrigar said a number of his drivers were at the service station near the Otara shopping centre to collect their delivery bundles when the men attacked.

He said two men jumped out from behind and stabbed the delivery man twice and started to beat him with something long and shiny, like a rod.

Mr Umrigar said it was completely unprovoked.

He said the men ran off when the other delivery drivers screamed and ran in to help.

The driver is in Middlemore Hospital.