Australia calls knife attack at Assyrian church in Sydney a terrorist act

Australian police said on Tuesday that a knife attack on an Assyrian bishop and some followers in Sydney was a terrorist act motivated by alleged religious extremism, as the country was hit by the second knife attack in three days, UNN reports citing Reuters.

Details

At least 4 people were injured in attack, including Bishop Mar Mar Emmanuel of the Assyrian Church of Christ the Good Shepherd, when a man attacked him with a knife during a live broadcast of a service on Monday.

The incident in the suburb of Wakeley in western Sydney provoked clashes near the church between police and an angry crowd of the bishop's followers, who demanded that the attacker be handed over to them.

Police arrested the teenager at the scene and had to detain him in the church for his safety.

"We believe that there are elements that are satisfied in terms of religiously motivated extremism," New South Wales Police Commissioner Karen Webb said at a press conference. - "After reviewing all the materials, I have declared that this was a terrorist incident.

Police said the attacker went to the church, located far from his home, with a knife. Webb said that police at this early stage of the investigation believe the attacker acted alone.

In its statement, the Church of Christ the Good Shepherd called the attack an isolated incident and said it was waiting for the police to clarify the attacker's motives.

Ambulance crews said they had treated approximately 30 people after the clash outside the church, with seven taken to hospitals with injuries. According to Webb, several police officers were also hospitalized with injuries, and 20 police cars were damaged.

Bishop Emmanuel's live sermons attract audiences around the world, and his video clips have received hundreds of thousands of views online. He became widely known for his tough views during the pandemic when he called quarantine mass slavery, media reported at the time. In a sermon uploaded to YouTube last year, the bishop criticized Islam.

The Lakemba Mosque in southwestern Sydney, one of Australia's largest, received a firebomb threat on Monday night, the Lebanese Muslim Association reported.

The head of Australian intelligence, Mike Burgess, said he would check on people close to the attacker to prevent any further threats to the community.

"It's reasonable that we do this to make sure there are no threats or immediate security threats. We don't see that at the moment," said Mike Burgess, Director General of Security at the Australian Security and Intelligence Organization.

Asked about a video of the alleged attacker pinned to the ground, his face hidden and his voice speaking in Arabic, that was circulating online: "If they hadn't insulted my prophet, I wouldn't have come here," Burgess replied: "We're aware of those comments...everything else is open lines of inquiry to understand why this individual got where he did.

Addendum 

It was the second knife attack in just three days in Australia's most populous city after six people were killed and 12 injured in a knife attack at a riverside shopping center in Sydney's Bondi district on Saturday.

Prime Minister Anthony Albenizi said that there is no place for violent extremism in Australia.

"We are a peace-loving nation. Now is the time to unite, not to divide as a community and as a country," he said during a press conference.