Australian police arrest 14-year-old boy

Sydney: Australian police say they have arrested a 14-year-old boy after a stabbing at the University of Sydney on Tuesday morning, prompting a lockdown of university buildings.

Emergency crews treated a 22-year-old man, who was taken to hospital in a serious but stable condition, New South Wales state police said in a statement.

The alleged attacker boarded a bus after the incident and was arrested near a hospital, police said. There is no risk to the community and the victim and alleged attacker did not know each other, they said.

A University of Sydney spokesperson said a police operation was underway at its Camperdown campus and police would remain on campus while investigations continued.

Police have cordoned off the crime scene.

The attack comes about two months after six people were killed and 12 injured in a stabbing at a beachfront shopping centre in Sydney's Bondi district, and a bishop from an Assyrian church was injured in an unrelated stabbing at a service in western Sydney.

A 16-year-old boy has been charged with a terrorist offence for stabbing the bishop, while the shopping centre attacker was shot dead by police.

The two attacks prompted the New South Wales state government to tighten its laws on knives. The state parliament passed laws in June that would equip police with electronic metal scanners to stop people without a warrant at shopping malls, stadiums and public transport stations.

The law also increased the maximum penalty for selling a knife to a child under 16 to A$11,000 (US$7,314) and/or 12 months' imprisonment. It also prohibits selling a knife to a child aged 16 or 17 without a reasonable excuse.

($1 = 1.5040 Australian dollars)