Australian police identify Sydney stabbing attacker

A video grab of the Sydney stabbing suspect inside the shopping mall. Pic/X

The police on Sunday identified the assailant who stabbed and killed six people at a busy Sydney shopping centre before a police officer fatally shot him.

New South Wales Police said that Joel Cauchi, 40, was responsible for the Saturday afternoon attack at the Westfield Shopping Centre in Bondi Junction, in the city's eastern suburbs and not far from the world-famous Bondi Beach.

NSW Assistant Police Commissioner Anthony Cooke told reporters at a media conference on Sunday that Cauchi suffered from yet unspecified mental health issues and police investigators weren't treating the attack as terrorism-related.

"We are continuing to work through the profiling of the offender but very clearly to us at this stage, it would appear that this is related to the mental health of the individual involved," Cooke said.

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