Two words, teenage boy shouted after allegedly stabbing Sydney bishop in Wakeley, Sydney church

The 16-year-old boy who allegedly stabbed a bishop in an act of terrorism justified his actions by telling witnesses that the Christian leader had ‘sworn’ one of his prophets and screamed ‘Allahu Akbar’ after throwing a knife into his face.

Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel was attacked while giving a sermon at Christ the Good Shepherd Church in Wakeley, in western Sydney, on Monday night.

Terrified parishioners sprang into action, with some rushing to the bishop’s aid and others helping to detain the teenager inside the church.

In video of the stabbing, the 16-year-old is heard telling churchgoers in Arabic: ‘If he didn’t swear at my prophet, I wouldn’t be here. If he didn’t get involved in my religion, I wouldn’t be here’.

One of the men involved in restraining the teenager after the attack told a police officer how he approached the teenager from behind and forcefully pushed him to the ground.

“He kept saying, ‘Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar,'” he tells the officer in a video posted on social media.

AFP Commissioner Reece Kershaw was asked to confirm the teenager’s religion amid speculation he had recently converted to Islam.

“We have a lot of intelligence to go through and confirm,” he said.

‘I can’t go through with it. One of the things I would say is a disgraceful act by the community that attacked the police in that place.’

ASIO chief Mike Burgess was asked if he was aware of the comments and if the bishop had said or done anything to trigger the attack.

“We are aware of those comments and everything else is open lines of inquiry to understand why the individual got to where they did,” he said.

In a video of the melee, the suspected attacker is heard saying in Arabic: ‘If he didn’t swear at my prophet I wouldn’t be here. If he didn’t get involved in my religion I wouldn’t be here’

AFP Commissioner Reece Kershaw (pictured) was asked to confirm the teenager’s religion amid speculation he had recently converted to Islam

Burgess was asked why the Wakeley incident was considered a terrorist attack while the Bondi Junction stabbing was not.

“The simple answer there is to call it a terrorist attack, you need indications of, information or evidence to suggest that the motivation was actually religiously motivated or ideologically motivated,” he said.

‘In the case of Saturday, that was not the case. In this case (Wakeley) information that we and the police have before us would strongly suggest that is the case and that is why it was called an act of terrorism.’

Burgess said ASIO would be “looking at people associated with the attacker to make sure there is no one else in the community with similar intentions”.

The spy chief added: ‘At this stage we have no indication of that.

‘However, it is prudent that we do this to establish that there are no threats or immediate threats to security. At present we do not see it.’

Condemning the violence, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the National Security Committee had held a meeting on Monday evening.

He said a joint counter-terrorism task force had been established with the AFP and the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation.

NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb declared on Tuesday that the attack was a terrorist incident ‘centred around religion’.

Police were seen outside the Orthodox Assyrian Church in Wakeley on Tuesday

Residents of Wakeley have expressed their concern for the Bishop’s welfare

Church friend Dominic Cammareri, who lives just blocks away, said he was caught up in the violence and was pepper-sprayed from a distance.

“People were throwing up from the pepper spray and running into people’s homes to get water,” he said.

He blamed the power of social media for how things escalated so seriously.

“If it wasn’t for social media, the police would have arrived before the people rioted and this wouldn’t have happened,” he said.

‘They wanted blood. It was a big build up of chaos.

‘My only concern was for the bishop’s welfare. He is recovering, but I don’t think he will be released from hospital anytime soon.’

The 16-year-old boy is being held at an unknown location under police guard.

He and the bishop underwent surgery on Tuesday morning.