Teenager arrested after terrorist attack on Australian church

Australia will work with international security agencies to assess global extremism after a stabbing at a Sydney church.

Police said the attack was being treated as an act of terrorism and a 16-year-old boy was arrested.

A bishop, a diocesan priest and several worshipers were injured during a live-streamed sermon on Monday.

The teenage suspect was subdued by worshipers and arrested by police.

Australian investigators believe the attackers were motivated by religious extremism.

Declaring the attack a terrorist incident would give investigators greater powers and resources to probe the alleged attackers’ exact motives.

Australia’s intelligence agencies will work with Five Eyes security alliance partners such as Canada and the United States to assess the global threat from extremism.

Video of the ceremony at the Assyrian Orthodox church shows a man walking towards the altar.

The attacker then lunged at a priest and appeared to stab him multiple times before churchgoers rushed to help. Horrifying screams were heard from the congregation at Sydney’s Good Shepherd Church of Christ.

Among the injured were prominent Christian leader Bishop Mar-Marie Emmanuel, a diocesan priest and a handful of believers. None of the victims suffered life-threatening injuries.

Outside the church, a large crowd angry at the attack clashed with police. “Get him out of here!” they chanted, calling for revenge against the teenage suspect.

A group of leaders from various faiths met with government officials to appeal to the community for calm. Western Sydney is one of the most culturally and religiously diverse regions in Australia.

“There is no place for violence in our communities. Violent extremism has no place,” Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told reporters on Tuesday. We are a peace-loving country. This is a time to unite (not divide) as a community and as a nation. “

Albanese is due to meet his national security adviser in Canberra later on Tuesday.

Australia’s official national terror threat level remains at “probable”, the second-lowest level on a five-level alert system. A government consultation notes that “there are a small number of people in Australia and overseas who want to cause harm to Australia.”

Six people were murdered in a knife attack at a Sydney shopping center at the weekend, followed by a church stabbing. The attacker, a 40-year-old man from Queensland who suffered from mental health issues, was shot dead at the scene by a police officer.

Among the injured was a 9-month-old baby girl who is still receiving treatment in the hospital. The baby’s mother was killed during Saturday’s riots. It is not considered a terrorism-related attack.