KARACHI, Pakistan

Australian police arrested a 16-year-old boy in connection with an inquiry into a violent online threat targeting a newly opened mosque in Sydney, the police said, adding that it alluded to a terrorist massacre.

In a comment underneath a post on the mosque's Instagram profile on Monday, the user allegedly threatened “Christchurch 2.0” against the mosque at Edmondson Park in the city’s west, an apparent reference to the New Zealand city where an Australian man killed 51 worshippers in 2019.

The teen was arrested at Eaton, in southwest Western Australia, and is assisting police with their inquiries, WA Police said in a statement on Tuesday evening, local broadcaster SBS News reported.

In a statement earlier on Tuesday, NSW Police said they have commenced an investigation after a threat was made towards a religious center at Edmondson Park on Monday.

"There are no ongoing threats to the community, and initial inquiries revealed the source of the threat was interstate," the statement added.

Hundreds of worshippers have visited the mosque—the Australian Islamic House—since it opened ahead of the holy month of Ramadan last Friday.

"We are profoundly concerned," the institution's president, Mazhar Hadid, said in a statement, calling on authorities to treat the threat with "the highest urgency."

The Alliance of Australians for Muslims and the Australian National Imams Council said they were "deeply alarmed and profoundly concerned" for the safety and well-being of Muslims in Sydney following the alleged threat.

'Abhorrent' threat should face full force of law

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said whoever was responsible for the "abhorrent" threat should face the full force of the law.

"There is no place for this in Australia ... racism and Islamophobia will not be tolerated," he said in a statement.

In a post on X, New South Wales Premier Chris Minns said his government and the police are taking the matter "very seriously."