Five people were killed in stabbings inside the Westfield center in the Australian suburb of Bondai Junction, in addition to the death of a person believed to be one of the attackers.
Australian police said eight injuries, including a child, in the stabbing at the mall, which was packed with shoppers on Saturday afternoon local time.
The New South Wales Ambulance Service said police wanted a man believed to be one of the attackers, while police sources indicated in their preliminary investigation that one person led the attack.
Australian police said they were continuing investigations to find out more information about the attacker, but no hypothesis was ruled out at this time, including terrorism.
According to the police spokesman, a policewoman was the first to shoot and kill the attacker, stressing that she acted immediately and without hesitation.
Several social media posts showed crowds fleeing the mall and police cars and emergency services rushing to the scene.
There were also some scenes showing injured people lying on the ground, receiving ambulance from police.
The incident came as Germany announced on Friday that it had arrested several teenagers who were preparing to carry out stabbings and terrorist attacks in the country.
It also came amid global and European preparedness for attacks that ISIS may carry out through its branches, after the terrorist attack that targeted a shopping mall in Moscow and was claimed by “ISIS”, which killed 144 people.
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