A knife attack during a service at an Assyrian church in Sydney that injured a bishop was a terrorist act motivated by suspected religious extremism, Australian police said on Tuesday (April 16).
At least four people were wounded in the attack, including Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel of the Assyrian Christ The Good Shepherd Church, during a service live streamed at the western Sydney suburb of Wakeley on Monday (April 15).
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At least four people were wounded in the attack, including Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel of the Assyrian Christ The Good Shepherd Church, during a service live streamed at the western Sydney suburb of Wakeley on Monday (April 15).
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NewsTranscript
00:00 After consideration of all the material, I declared that it was a terrorist incident.
00:07 Strike Force Katrina has been established to investigate that side of the events last night.
00:15 We believe there are elements that are satisfied in terms of religious motivated extremism
00:24 and of course the intimidation of the public through that person's acts by attending that church whilst it was being live streamed.
00:33 We will allege that there is a degree of premeditation on the basis that this person has travelled to that location
00:42 which is not near his residential address.
00:45 He has travelled with a knife and subsequently the bishop and the priest have been stabbed
00:54 who are currently in surgery as I understand it.
00:58 They are lucky to be alive.
01:00 We understand he is about 16 years of age.
01:04 He is known to police.
01:07 However, he has not been on any terror watch list.
01:13 This is a disturbing incident.
01:18 There is no place for violence in our community.
01:22 There is no place for violent extremism.
01:25 We are a peace loving nation.
01:27 This is a time to unite, not divide as a community and as a country.
01:33 It does appear to be religiously motivated but we continue our lines of investigation.
01:39 At the same time, our job is also to look at individuals connected with the attacker
01:44 to assure ourselves that there is no one else in the community with similar intent.
01:48 At this stage we have no indications of that but it is prudent that we do this
01:53 to determine there is no threats or immediate threats to security.
01:57 At this time we are not seeing that.
01:59 I understand that people are feeling uneasy and that is understandable
02:04 given the atrocity that occurred on Saturday and then this incident last night.
02:09 I discussed this with Premier Minns this morning as well.
02:13 Part of us standing up here is to reassure the public that the authorities are doing their work.
02:21 I have every faith in the NSW Police, in the Australian Federal Police and our security agencies
02:28 to do their work. We will provide them with every support.
02:32 [Text] The NSW Police, Australian Federal Police and Australian Federal Police
02:37 [Text] The NSW Police, Australian Federal Police and Australian Federal Police
02:42 [Text] The NSW Police, Australian Federal Police and Australian Federal Police