Australian police execute search warrants as part of operation over church stabbings

Detectives and secret service agents investigating the stabbing of a bishop in a Sydney church are executing search warrants in the city as part of a major operation, officials say.

The Joint Counter-Terrorism Team, which includes federal and state police, as well as the Australian Security Intelligence Organization, the nation’s main domestic spy agency, says in a statement there is no current threat to public safety.

Australian Federal Police Commissioner Reece Kershaw says the operation is related to a knife attack in a Sydney church on April 15 in which an Assyrian Orthodox bishop and priest were injured.

“There is a major operation underway in Sydney,” Kershaw tells the National Press Club of Australia.

“We have to make unfortunately lawful interventions to prevent any further planning or attack on our communities,” Kershaw adds.

A 16-year-old boy accused of stabbing the two clerics was charged on Friday with committing a terrorist act, a crime that carries a maximum penalty of life in prison.

The teen allegedly spoke in Arabic about the Prophet Muhammad being insulted after he stabbed Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel and the Rev. Isaac Royel in the Christ the Good Shepherd Church as a service was being streamed online.