‘ISIS inspired’ youth charged for knife attack in Australia

Melbourne :A 22-year-old youth “inspired by” the Islamic state group allegedly stabbed a man multiple times while he was walking through a park in southwest Sydney with Austarlian police calling the attack as “new face of terrorism”.

The attacker, named in local media as Ihsas Khan, was charged on Sunday with committing a terrorist attack and attempted murder after the alleged attack on a 59-year-old man in the suburb of Minto on Saturday. The victim, known as Wayne, was allegedly stabbed while walking through a reserve, suffering serious injuries to his hands and body.

Witnesses heard the accused man shouting in Arabic during and after the attack. The victim managed to run to a nearby home to seek help. “We know that this person has strong extremist beliefs inspired by ISIS. What made him actually act on Saturday we do not know. There was clearly some planning on Saturday that we do know about and that only came to light post the incident,” New South Wales state police Deputy Commissioner Catherine Burn told reporters, adding that investigators had seized a “large knife”.

She said it was a deliberate act, it resulted in a person receiving extremely serious injuries. “It is possible the man attacked the stranger in an attempt to lure police and attack them,” she said, adding investigators have found information to suggest the man had planned to commit an attack on Saturday that was inspired by Islamic State.

“This clearly was a very volatile, very violent situation that police and the members of the community were confronted with,” she said. The attacker, who was denied bail after a court appearance on Sunday, was not believed to be connected to any terrorist groups known to police, Burn said, but underlined that the type of threat he posed was a new challenge to authorities.

“This is the new face of terrorism. This is the new face of what we deal with,” Burn said. The alleged stabbing came two days after a teenage boy was charged with making threats at the Sydney Opera House, and both incidents followed an IS call to target high-profile Australian sites.

PTI