Police say Sydney knife attack on Bishop, priest motivated by religious extremism— an act of terrorism'
The New South Wales police said it suspected that the recent knife attack on bishop Mar Emmanuel, a priest, and other three members of the Christ Good Shepherd Church in Wakeley was motivated by religious extremism.
The stabbing of a bishop and a priest during a church service in Sydney according to the police was a ‘terrorist attack’ that was linked to religious fanatism.
The New South Wales police commissioner Karen Webb confirmed this during a press conference, where she said interrogation of the suspect by the police revealed that the 16-year-old stabber was motivated by his “belief”.
Currently, two task special investigators have been installed to analyze the incident that led to the knife attack on Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel at Christ Good Shepherd Church in Wakeley.
A 16-year-old boy attacked Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel and a priest during a church service at the Christ Good Shepherd in Sydney on Monday evening.
The bishop, a priest, including three other worshippers were injured by the attacker during a live streaming church service at Christ Good Shepherd.
According to News.com.au, as the investigation officials look to identify the motive behind the attack on Bishop and his priest others shall also focus on the case of suspected attackers of police officers and paramedics responding to the scene.
Karen Webb, in her own words, confirmed this, “We believe there are elements that are satisfied in terms of religious motivated extremism,” she said .”After consideration of all the material, I declared that it was a terrorist incident.
“We’ll allege there’s a degree of premeditation on the basis that this person has travelled to that location, which is not near his residential address, he has travelled with a knife and subsequently the bishop and the priest have been stabbed.”
Webb said the church was in luck as the attack on Bishop and the priest did not lead to fatal injuries
“They’re lucky to be alive,” she added.
On the crime scene, at the western Sydney suburb of Wakeley, outside of the church house were angry mob rioting, pelting bricks , bottles and demanding the police to hand them over to them the 16-year-old who was responsible for the knife attack on Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel, his priest and other worshippers.
According to Mr Holland more than 100 police reinforcements arrived before the teen was taken from the church in the hours-long incident, and several police vehicles were damaged.
“A number of houses have been damaged. They’ve broken into a number of houses to gain weapons to throw at the police. They’ve thrown weapons and items at the church itself. There were obviously people who wanted to get access to the young person who caused the injuries to the clergy people,” he said.
However, the Australian Federal Police commissioner Reece Kershaw condemned the the teen’s knife attack on bishop Mar Emmanuel, priests and other worshippers, as well as the violent actions of the angry mob against the police, saying this was “atypical of Australian citizens”.
“It’s a disgraceful act from [members of] the community who attacked police at the scene,” the commissioner, Mr Kershaw said.
Meanwhile, the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) director-general Mike Burgess said despite their suspicion of the incident being religiously motivated, further investigations are in progress.
He also noted that the intelligent team would extend investigations to find all who were connected to the attacker, and ensure the safety of the community.
“It does appear to be religiously motivated, but we continue our lines of investigation,” Mr Burgess said.
“Our job is to look at individuals connected with the attacker to assure ourselves that there is no one else in the community with similar intent. At this stage, we have no indications of that,” he added.
Please, follow us on X @Epicstoriannew for more Local News/ Nigerian News and World News
