SYDNEY: Australian police on Tuesday said a knife attack on an Assyrian church bishop and some followers in Sydney was a terrorist act motivated by suspected religious extremism, as the country reeled from a second stabbing incident in three days.
At least four people were wounded in the attack, including Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel of the Assyrian Christ The Good Shepherd Church, when a man lunged at him with a knife during a service live-streamed on Monday.
The incident at the western Sydney suburb of Wakeley triggered clashes outside the church between police and an angry crowd of the bishop’s followers who demanded the attacker be handed over to them.
Police arrested a male teenager at the scene and were forced to hold him at the church for his own safety.
“We believe there are elements that are satisfied in terms of religious motivated extremism,” New South Wales state Police Commissioner Karen Webb said during a press conference.
“After consideration of all the material, I declared that it was a terrorist incident.” Police said there was premeditation as the male attacker travelled to the church, far from his home, with a knife. But Webb said police at this early stage of the investigation believe the attacker was acting alone.
Christ the Good Shepherd Church in a statement called the attack an isolated incident and said it was awaiting the police findings into the motive of the attacker. –Agencies
