Melbourne: A knife-wielding man shouting "Allahu Akbar' on Tuesday went on a stabbing rampage in Sydney's busy central business district, allegedly killing one woman and injuring another before he was overpowered by passersby with a chair.
The attacker has been identified as 21-year-old Mert Ney and is said to have a history of mental illness. Police said the incident was currently not classified as a terror act.
Australian TV channels showed the attacker running through the King Street with a large kitchen knife yelling Allahu Akbar (God is Great).
The attacker, who was seen jumping on the bonnet and roof of a Mercedes, stabbed a 41-year-old woman passing on the street in the back before he was held down with chairs and a milk crate by onlookers, police said.
Paramedics found the woman with a stab wound taking refuge in a nearby hotel. Later, police said they found the body of a 21-year-old woman, believed to have been an acquaintance of the detained suspect, inside an apartment near the crime site.
Officers confirmed that the death was linked to the ongoing investigation. "All the information we have at hand would link these two crimes," New South Wales police commissioner Mick Fuller said.
In a statement, police said that the emergency services responded following reports that a man was walking along York Street armed with a knife.
By Natasha Chaku
