Winnipeg Police Service's child abuse unit is investigating an apparent assault on a child, who was found near a playground Tuesday morning. (CBC)

A child is in hospital in guarded condition after apparently being assaulted and left near a Winnipeg playground.

The Winnipeg Police Service's child abuse unit is investigating and a female has been taken into custody for questioning.

According to police, officers were called to the corner of Tyndall Avenue and Chudley Street, next to Shaughnessy Park, at about 4:30 a.m. Tuesday. Police released little information about the incident, other than to say the victim is believed to be younger than two years old.

Tyler Bilsborrow spoke to CBC News after providing police with information as a witness. He was having a cigarette outside his home on Chudley Street when he heard screams and went to look. He saw a woman he described as in her 20s slamming something against the sidewalk.

In the dark, Bilsborrow thought the small thing being beaten was a cat. When he approached the woman, she dropped the child and ran off.

'You couldn't really tell [the child's gender] because there was so much blood.'—Tyler Bilsborrow

Bilsborrow wrapped the child in his sweater and held it until emergency crews arrived.

He said the attack injured the child badly that he couldn't determine a gender or age, though he referred to it as a girl when he recalled the incident.

"You couldn't really tell because there was so much blood. You could tell that her face was being smacked up against the cement. She could barely open her eyes," he said.

Police were seen combing the area with floodlights through the early morning hours before the sun came up.

There is no word on whether the woman they have in custody is the same one Bilsborrow saw, and what her relationship is to the child. Police have not said whether charges have been laid.

Officers have taped off a half-block area of Chudley between Tyndall and Gilbert Avenue. The area borders a Manitoba Housing complex on one side and an athletic field on the other.

Early Tuesday, a small black jacket lay crumpled on the sidewalk in the middle of the blocked-off area. Not far away was a pink shirt, a discarded sandal, other articles of clothing and what appeared to be a pool of dried blood.