Police considering knife attack on bishop and priest in Australia as a terrorist incident
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Sydney. Australian police say that a knife attack on a bishop and a priest during prayer in a church in Sydney has left people present there and watching the prayer online shocked. Police are considering it as a terrorist act. Police arrested a 16-year-old boy on Tuesday following a knife attack at Christ the Good Shepherd Church. Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel and a priest were injured in the incident. Both are undergoing treatment and are expected to survive.
New South Wales Police Commissioner Karen Webb said the suspect’s comments pointed to a religious motive for the attack. The officer said, “We believe that this attack was carried out as part of a well-planned conspiracy because this person chose a place for the attack which is not even close to his house.” The accused came with a knife and entered the church and attacked the bishop and the priest with the knife. He said, they are lucky that they survived. The officer said that the teenager was known to the police but he was not on the watch list.
The country’s main intelligence agency ‘Australian Security Intelligence Organization’ (ASIO), Australian Federal Police and provincial police are assisting the Anti-Terrorism Task Force in investigating the case. ASIO director general Mike Burgess said the investigation had revealed no threat related to the incident. Burgis said, it appears that the incident is religiously motivated but we are investigating the matter keeping all aspects in mind. Our job is to keep an eye on individuals associated with the attacker to determine whether there are others in the community with similar intentions, Burgis said. Although at this stage we have no indication of this.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese responded to the attack, saying there is no place for violence in our community. There is no room for violent extremists. Officials said that after the incident, hundreds of people gathered outside the Orthodox Assyrian Church and threw bricks and bottles, injuring police officers. He said that the crowd stopped the police from taking the accused out of the church. Acting Assistant Police Commissioner Andrew Holland told reporters that the suspect and at least two police officers were also hospitalized. The church said in a message on social media that the bishop and priest were in stable condition. In the message people have been asked to pray.
Disclaimer: IndiaTheNews has not edited this news. This news has been published from PTI-language feed.
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