A 16-year-old boy was charged with a terrorism offence on Thursday after two people were injured in an alleged stabbing at a Sydney church earlier in the week, New South Wales police said.
Police were called to Christ The Good Shepherd Church in Wakeley, western Sydney, on Monday evening, following reports of a stabbing where two people had been injured, NSW police said in a statement late on Thursday.
A 53-year-old man sustained significant injuries to his head while a 39-year-old man sustained lacerations and a shoulder wound when he attempted to intervene.
The 16-year-old boy, who had been restrained by members of the public, was arrested.
NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb on Tuesday had said the boy allegedly made comments as he launched the attack. "After consideration of all the material, I declared that it was a terrorist incident."
Declaring a crime an act of terrorism gives police extra investigative powers, to determine whether a person acted alone or was part of a wider network.
The teenager was taken to hospital where he remained under police guard. He had undergone surgery for injuries sustained during the attack. If convicted of a terrorist act he would face a maximum penalty of life in prison.
Webb said that, while police were responding to the incident, a large crowd gathered outside the church. Projectiles were thrown at officers, with a number injured and hospitalized.
The church attack came after six people were killed and dozens injured in a stabbing at a Sydney shopping centre on Saturday. Police said that attack was carried out by a man suffering poor mental health and was not thought to be terror-related.