SYDNEY (AP) - The Latest on a knife attack in Melbourne (all times local):
10:45 p.m.
The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for an attack in Australia that police say was linked to terrorism.
Police say the driver of a pickup truck got out of his vehicle, which then caught fire, and attacked three bystanders with a knife before being fatally shot by police on Friday in Melbourne, Australia’s second-largest city.
Police said the attacker came from Somalia.
The militant group said in a statement released through its Aamaq media arm that the man was “one of Islamic State fighters” and carried out the attack in response to IS calls for attacks in countries that are part of the international coalition fighting the militants in Syria and Iraq.
IS, which has suffered heavy battlefield setbacks in Syria and Iraq in the past year, often claims attacks in an opportunistic vein.
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9:35 p.m.
Australian police say a pickup truck that caught fire in the country’s second-largest city contained several barbeque gas cylinders and was part of an apparent terrorist attack.
Police said the driver got out of the vehicle, which then caught fire, and attacked three bystanders with a knife before being fatally shot by police.
The attack during the Friday afternoon rush hour brought central Melbourne to a standstill.
Victoria state police Commissioner Graham Ashton says the attacker was from Somalia and known to the authorities, mostly because of family members who were “persons of interest” to police.
Victoria state Premier Daniel Andrews says the attack was “an evil and terrifying thing that has happened in our city and state today.”
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8:45 p.m.
Australian police say they believe an attack by a knife-wielding man who stabbed two people, one fatally, in the country’s second-largest city is linked to terrorism.
The attack during the Friday afternoon rush hour brought central Melbourne to a standstill.
Police said the man got out of a vehicle, which then caught fire, and attacked three bystanders with a knife before being shot by police. The suspect died later at a hospital.
Victoria state police Commissioner Graham Ashton says the suspect, who was originally from Somalia, was known to police and the incident is being treated as terrorism.
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7:30 p.m.
Police shot a knife-wielding man Friday after he fatally stabbed one person and injured two others in the center of Australia’s second-largest city, police said.
The incident, which brought central Melbourne to a standstill in the late afternoon rush, came after police responded to reports of a burning vehicle.
Officers were confronted near the burning car by a man “brandishing a knife and threatening them” while passers-by called out that people had been stabbed, Victoria state police Superintendent David Clayton said.
One of the stabbed people was dead at the scene and two others were taken to a hospital.
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