Australian police: Stabbing of bishop during service in Sydney was terrorist attack

RELIGIONS NEWS AGENCY (REDNA) – Australian police say they are treating the stabbing of a bishop during a live church service as terrorism.

Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel, from the Assyrian Orthodox church and outspoken on social media,  was attacked with a knife by a 16-year-old, who ran up to him during the service and stabbed him in full view of the cameras relaying the service online.

The bishop suffered non-life threatening injuries.

Police say there appears to be a religious motive for the attack but the teenager, though known to police, was not on a terror watch list.