Police have shot dead a 16-year-old boy after he stabbed a man in the back in Australia in an attack that authorities say suggested terrorism.
There were signs he was radicalised online and concerned members of the Muslim community had called police before the attack in Perth, said state authorities.
The attack – at about 10pm on Saturday – in the suburb of Willetton, had the “hallmarks” of terrorism, police said.
The boy first called police himself shortly before the attack to say he was going to commit violence, but didn’t say where or who he was, said Sky News Australia correspondent Crystal Wu.
A 30-year-old man was then stabbed in the back with a kitchen knife and three police officers were deployed after a call from the public, Wu said.
Two officers drew their Tasers, and the other a firearm, and they ordered the teenager to put down his weapon.
He was shot when he refused to do so.
Local reports indicate he was known to police and had “mental health and radicalisation issues” – and was in a deradicalisation programme.
Western Australia Premier Roger Cook said “at this stage it appears that he acted solely and alone”.
The victim is stable in hospital, authorities said.
PM Anthony Albanese has said ‘there is no place for violent extremism in Australia’. Pic: AP
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he had been briefed by police and intelligence agencies, which advised there was no ongoing threat.
“We are a peace-loving nation and there is no place for violent extremism in Australia,” Mr Albanese wrote on X.
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The incident comes after New South Wales police last month charged several boys with terrorism-related offences in
investigations following the stabbing of an Assyrian Christian bishop while he was giving a live-streamed sermon in Sydney.
The attack on the bishop came only days after a deadly mass stabbing in the Sydney beachside suburb of Bondi that claimed the lives of six people.
