Sydney church knife attack was a terrorist incident: Australian police

Following the incident, police arrested a male teenager at the scene on Monday.

Sydney:

A knife attack during a ceremony at an Assyrian church in Sydney was a suspected religious extremist terror attack, Australian police said on Tuesday.

At least four people were injured in an attack on Monday during a livestreamed service in Wakeley, in Sydney’s western suburbs, including Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel of the Assyrian Church of Christ the Good Shepherd.

The incident sparked clashes between angry crowds and police outside the church.

Police arrested a male teenager at the scene on Monday and were forced to detain him inside the church for his own safety after crowds gathered outside demanding the attacker be removed.

“We believe there are elements of religious extremism that are desirable,” New South Wales Police Commissioner Karen Webber told a news conference.

The bishop, whose live-streamed sermons have captivated a global audience, was speaking during an evening service on Monday when a man lunged at him with a knife, according to video footage.

It was the second major knife attack in Australia’s most populous city in three days, after six people were killed in a knife attack at a beachfront shopping center in the Bondi area on Saturday.

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