Five teenagers have been charged with terrorism in connection with a stabbing at a Sydney church in early April, the Australian Federal Police (AFP) said on Thursday. In the meantime, “(…) the Sydney Joint Counter-Terrorism Team (JCTT) is continuing its investigation into the associates of the suspected perpetrator who carried out the stabbing attack at the Wakeley church,” according to the AFP statement, according to MTI.
More than 400 state and federal police officers executed 13 search warrants across Sydney on Wednesday. Seven young men were detained. Five other people, including two men and three teenage boys, helped police with the investigation. Last Friday, the prosecutor’s office brought charges against the 16-year-old suspect of the attack on the Assyrian Christian church called Christ The Good Shepherd Church on April 15, which was classified as a terrorist act by the police.
According to witnesses, the teenager spoke in Arabic about insulting the Prophet Muhammad after repeatedly stabbing Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel and Reverend Isaac Royel with a knife during the live, online service.
