Sydney church stabbing: Australian police charged five teens following anti

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Five teenagers accused of following a violent extremist ideology have been charged with a range of offenses in an investigation that began with the stabbing of a bishop in a Sydney church, police said Thursday.

The five, aged from 14 to 17, were among seven boys arrested across southwest Sydney on Wednesday in a major operation by the Joint Counter-Terrorism Team. The team includes federal and state police as well as the Australian Security Intelligence Organization, the nation’s main domestic spy agency, and the New South Wales Crime Commission, which specializes in extremists and organized crime.

Two boys aged 16 and a 17-year-old have been charged with conspiring to engage in or planning a terrorist act, a police statement said. The older boy was also charged with carrying a knife in public, it said.