A stabbing attack left six dead and several injured, including a 9-month-old baby, on Saturday in a crowded shopping center in Sydney. According to the authorities, who attenuate the terrorist trail, the attacker seems to have acted alone.
A New South Wales state police official, Karen Webb, said there were five women and one man. An injured nine-month-old baby required emergency surgery.
The attacker, unidentified, was chased and shot dead by a police officer hailed for her heroism.
Eight injured people, including the baby, were taken to hospital. ‘They all have traumatic injuries,’ said the New South Wales state emergency services spokesperson.
According to the police, the assailant appears to be a 40-year-old man already known to the police and the courts, but he has not yet been formally identified.
Karen Webb has toned down speculation that the attack could have been an act of terrorism, noting that the attacker appears to have acted alone. ‘If this is the person we are thinking of… then this is not a terrorism-related incident,’ she said.
Complex investigation
‘I don’t yet know who he is (the attacker, Editor’s note). You will understand that this is a very complex matter. The investigations are very recent and we continue to try to identify the culprit, said Anthony Cooke, deputy commissioner of the New South Wales state police.
The tragedy occurred at the sprawling Westfield Bondi Junction shopping complex, which was packed with shoppers on Saturday afternoon. The scene was cordoned off by police who called on the population to avoid the area.
The attacker appeared to have acted alone, Australian Prime Minister Antony Albanese said at a news conference. ‘For all of us this evening, the appalling scenes at Bondi Junction are beyond words and beyond comprehension,’ he added.
Surveillance camera footage broadcast by Australian media showed a man with a large knife running through the shopping center and injured people lying on the ground.
‘It was scary’
Pranjul Bokaria was leaving work and doing some shopping when the attack took place. She ran to a nearby store and took refuge in a break room. ‘It was scary, there were people crying,’ she told AFP.
She then escaped through a fire exit with other customers and employees, onto a back street. ‘I’m alive and grateful,’ she said.
Other witnesses said there was panic, with people seeking shelter while police tried to secure the area.
As night fell, dozens of police and ambulances were still outside the mall, stretchers ready to transport the injured to nearby hospitals.
Charles III ‘horrified’
King Charles III, British sovereign but also head of state of Australia, said in a statement that he was ‘horrified’ by this ‘senseless’ aggression.
Pope Francis was ‘deeply saddened’ by the ‘senseless’ attack. Switzerland also expressed its compassion to the victims and their loved ones. ‘We are deeply saddened by the events that occurred today at Sydney’s Bondi Junction,’ the Swiss embassy in Canberra said.
This type of attack is extremely rare in Australia. In November 2018, an individual armed with a knife killed one person and injured two others on a Melbourne street before being shot dead by police. The crime was claimed by the Islamic State (IS) group.
/ATS