Australian police say a knife attack in Sydney that wounded a bishop and a priest during a church service as horrified worshippers watched online and in person was an act of terrorism

Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel and a priest were attacked by a 16 year old boy on Tuesday, who stabbed them on the basis of by eye witness accounts, “centred around religion” at the Christ the Good Shepherd Church.

New South Wales Police Commissioner Karen Webb said the suspect’s comments pointed to a religious motive for the attack. Also, it was noted that there was 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 has stated that they are lucky to be alive.

The teenager was known to the police but was not under the terror watch list.

The Australian Security Intelligence Organization, the nation’s main domestic spy agency, and Australian Federal Police had joined state police in a counter-terrorism task force to investigate who else was potentially involved.

ASIO Director-general Mike Burgess said the investigation had yet to uncover any associated threats.

“It does appear to be religiously motivated, but we continue our lines of investigation,” 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,” Burgess added.

In response to the attack, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said “there is no place for violence in our community. There’s no place for violent extremism.”

The Christ the Good Shepherd in suburban Wakeley streams sermons online and worshippers watched as a person in black clothes approached the altar and stabbed the bishop and priest Isaac Royel during a church service Monday evening before the congregation overpowered him, police said.

A crowd of hundreds seeking revenge gathered outside the Orthodox Assyrian church, hurling bricks and bottles, injuring police officers and preventing police from taking the teen outside, officials said.

The teen suspect and at least two police officers were also hospitalized, Acting Assistant Police Commissioner Andrew Holland told journalists.

Paramedics treated 30 patients, with seven taken to hospitals, NSW Ambulance commissioner Dominic Morgan said.

“This was a rapidly evolving situation where the crowds went from 50 to a number of hundreds of people in a very rapid period of time,” Morgan said.

“Our paramedics became directly under threat … and had to retreat into the church,” Morgan added.

Holland commended the congregation for subduing the teen before calling police. When asked if the teen’s fingers had been severed, he said the hand injuries were “severe.”

More than 100 police reinforcements arrived before the teen was taken from the church in the hours-long incident. Several police vehicles were damaged, Holland said.

“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.

Australians were still in shock after a lone assailant stabbed six people to death in a Sydney shopping mall on Saturday and injured more than a dozen others, which is referred to the Bondi Incident.

Holland suggested the weekend attack heightened the community’s response to the church stabbing.

“Given that there has been incidents in Sydney the last few days with knives involved, obviously there’s concerns,” he said. “We’ve asked for everyone to think rationally at this stage. “

The church said in a statement on Tuesday the 53-year-old Iraq-born bishop’s condition was “improving.”

Emmanuel has a strong social media following and is outspoken on a range of issues. He proselytizes to both Jews and Muslims and is critical of liberal Christian denominations.

The church in a message on social media said the bishop and priest were in stable condition and asked for people’s prayers. “It is the bishop’s and father’s wishes that you also pray for the perpetrator,” the statement said.