In a shocking turn of events, Australian police have labelled the recent knife attack at an Assyrian church in Sydney as a terrorist act, attributing it to suspected religious extremism.

NSW police confirmed that a bishop and several members of the congregation were injured after they were stabbed during mass at Christ the Good Shepherd church in a Sydney west area.

In the attack that took place on Saturday, five of the six people killed in a knife attack were women. The only male was a guard who tried to save a woman from attack.