Australia: Indian national shot dead after threatening police with a knife

An Indian national, who had allegedly stabbed a cleaner and then threatened cops with a knife on Tuesday, has been fatally shot by the police in Australia.

Mohamed Rahmathullah Syed Ahmed, 32, from Tamil Nadu, attacked a 28-year-old cleaner at Auburn train station in west Sydney at 12.03 a.m. before arriving at Auburn police station about five minutes later, The Sydney Morning Herald reported.

The two men were not known to each other, according to the police.

At the police station, he tried to attack two policemen when a senior officer fired three shots, two of which hit Ahmed in the chest. After initial treatment by paramedics, Ahmed was rushed to Westmead Hospital, but was pronounced dead just after 1.30 a.m., the report said.

Ahmed was living in Auburn on a bridging visa, police said.

NSW Police Assistant Commissioner Stuart Smith, addressing a press conference on Tuesday morning, said that the officers were left with no choice but to shoot the man.

"I fully support these officers. It's traumatic. It's a significant incident at one of our police stations," he was quoted as saying by The Herald.

"There just isn't an impending time. It is immediate. He launches through the glass doors at the officers; they had very little time to react," he added.

Smith said that detectives are probing Ahmed's mental health, and they have also spoken to the cleaner who suffered a puncture wound to his left forearm, and is now in a stable condition in the hospital.

Confirming Ahmed's identity, the Consulate General of India said it was providing all possible assistance to police."We ask for a complete report on the circumstances of the shooting of an Indian national," the consulate said.

"The incident is extremely disturbing and unfortunate. We have formally taken up the matter with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, NSW Office as well as state police authorities," the consulate said in a statement published by The Herald. (KB/IANS)