A new stabbing attack left four people injured on Monday April 15 during a religious service in Sydney, two days after the attack that left six dead on Saturday in a shopping center.
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A new stabbing attack has taken place in Sydney. “ The lives of the four injured are not threatened », indicated the police in Australia’s largest city this Monday, April 15, explaining that he had arrested a 15-year-old boy after this attack which took place during a religious service in an Assyrian church in the west of the city.
According to a live broadcast, an individual dressed in black approached the altar, raised his right arm and struck the priest with a knife, causing panic and screams among the faithful. A number of people rushed to help, according to the footage, and subdue the attacker.
The teenager was arrested for stabbing the bishop and a second clergyman. The suspect was treated for hand injuries and taken to a safe location, said Andrew Holland, a senior New South Wales state police officer.
Meanwhile, at least two police officers were hospitalized and vehicles were damaged during violent protests following the stabbing, Australian police said. The officers were injured by people who shouted “ bottles, bricks and other objects », Also reported the police. The parish priest was injured but his life was not in danger, as were three other people.
Another attack left six dead on Saturday
AFP identified the location from the video as the Church of Christ the Good Shepherd, in Wakeley, in the western suburbs of Sydney. The neighborhood is known for welcoming members of the small Assyrian Christian community who fled persecution and war in Iraq and Syria. This church hosts a religious service on Monday evenings.
Saturday April 13, a previous one knife attack left six dead and several injured in Sydney. It was perpetrated in a shopping center by a 40-year-old man with mental illness; nothing suggests a terrorist motive, according to Australian police.
Five of the six victims killed by Joel Cauchi, a 40-year-old mentally ill man, are women, as are most of those injured. The assailant had been shot dead. A black ribbon was projected on the Sydney Opera House on Monday as a sign of mourning.
Read alsoAustralia: man with mental illness behind knife attack