Tensions rise in Australia after bishop and priest wounded in a ‘knife attack’
SYDNEY, April 16, (AP): A teenager has been accused of wounding a Christian bishop and priest during a church service in a second highprofile knife attack to rock Sydney in recent days, leaving communities on edge, leaders calling for calm and a besieged church urging against retaliation.
The 16-year-old was overpowered by the shocked congregation at Christ the Good Shepherd Church after he allegedly stabbed Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel and Fr. Isaac Royel during a service on Monday night that was being streamed online.
Police have not commented on reports that the boy’s fingers were severed by parishioners in the Orthodox Assyrian church in suburban Wakeley, but confirmed his hand injuries were “severe.”
Video of the attack spread quickly on social media and an angry mob converged on the church demanding vengeance. They hurled bricks, bottles and fence boards at police, who temporarily barricaded the boy inside the church for his own safety. Many in the crowd chanted “an eye for an eye” and “bring him out.”
Several people including police officers required hospital treatment following the hourslong riot.
Police and community leaders said public anxiety had been heightened by a lone assailant’s knife attack in a Sydney shopping mall on Saturday that killed five women and a male security guard who attempted to intervene. The 40-year-old assailant, Joel Cauchi, had a history of mental illness and trouble with women and a fascination with knives. He was shot dead by police.
Also: TANA TORAJA, Indonesia:
Rescuers recovered the bodies of a 3-year-old girl and her mother, the last victims still missing after landslides killed 20 on Indonesia’s Sulawesi Island, authorities said Tuesday.
The steep, muddy terrain blocked heavy equipment from coming in, forcing rescuers to dig through the mud with handheld tools.
At least 20 search and rescue officers took part in the search, as well as dozens of residents.
Mud loosened by torrential rain poured from surrounding hills onto four houses Saturday at South Makale village in the Tana Toraja district of South Sulawesi province, said local police chief Gunardi Mundu. He said a family gathering was being held in one of the houses when the landslide hit.
The last two victims were found late Tuesday afternoon as heavy rains continued. Rescuers carried them away, wrapped in orange body bags, across a dark and rainy field with the help of torches.