A 22-year-old man charged with a terrorist attack in south-west Sydney was inspired by the so-called Islamic State group, NSW Police allege.
He is accused of stabbing a 59-year-old man a number of times at a reserve on Olhlfsen Road at Minto on Saturday afternoon.
The victim suffered injuries to his body and hands, and remains in hospital in a serious condition.
The 22-year-old suspect has been charged with committing a terrorist act and attempted murder, and will appear at Parramatta Bail Court later today.
“We will be alleging before court that this was an act inspired by ISIS, it was a deliberate act, it resulted in a person receiving extremely serious injuries,” NSW Deputy Police Commissioner Catherine Burns said.
Witnesses have told the ABC the man who had been stabbed ran into a nearby hair salon to flee his assailant.
The alleged attacker is known to police but not for links to any known terror groups, Deputy Commissioner Catherine Burns said.
“We know that this person has strong extremist beliefs inspired by ISIS,” she said.
“[He is] not someone who was front and centre in our work at the moment.
“We don’t believe he was connected with any terrorist group. This is the challenge.”
When police arrived at the scene on Saturday, the suspect allegedly attempted to stab an officer through the car window.
“We will allege that he was going to attack them (the officers) also,” Deputy Commissioner Burns said.
Salon owner sheltered stabbing victim
The husband of the salon owner said his wife’s actions helped save the victim after another neighbour also intervened.
“My neighbour’s come home, just a freak of timing, he’s come home at exactly the right time from his son’s football game,” Andrew Horton said.
“[He] saw that the attacker had a knife, [he] got out of the car and threw the door open, and it sort of blocked the bloke a bit, apparently.”
The man did not witness the incident but said his wife told him the victim sought shelter in her nearby salon, where she was.
“She’s seen that he’s been knifed, she saw the blood pouring out of him, and seen that the fella’s not far behind him … but she’s had the sense to lock the door.”
Mr Horton said the alleged attacker tried to break the glass door of the salon but it held, and police arrived a short time afterwards.
A large knife was taken from the scene for forensic examination by police.
Deputy Commissioner Burns said there had “clearly been some degree of planning”, but it was not known for how long.
Neighbours have told the ABC that a man in the area had been acting suspiciously for the past year.
This post originally appeared on ABC News.
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Top Comments
I really wish the media hadn't been so quick to label this a "terrorist attack". This was done by a mentally disturbed man.
Thank God the gentleman has survived -thanks largely to the heroic & selfless efforts of the Samoan family who tried to contain the deranged lunatic, stopping him from getting into the salon. But a terrorist because he is Muslim & was holding the Koran? No. He is mentally disturbed.
Dangerous times.