BREAKING NEWS

Australian police say Sydney knife attacker may have targeted women

Australian police on Monday said the attacker who fatally stabbed six people at a busy shopping centre in Sydney's beach suburb of Bondi may have targeted women, as the country mourned the victims and hundreds of people laid flowers near the scene.

In the attack on Saturday, five of the six people killed and the majority of the 12 injured were women. Police said on Monday they had finished taking physical evidence at the Westfield Bondi Junction mall.

"It's obvious to me, it's obvious to detectives that seems to be an area of interest that the offender focused on women and avoided the men," New South Wales state Police Commissioner Karen Webb told the Australian Broadcasting Corp.

"The videos speak for themselves, don't they? That's certainly a line for inquiry for us."

Witnesses described how attacker Joel Cauchi, 40, wearing shorts and an Australian national rugby league jersey, ran through the mall with a knife. He was killed by Inspector Amy Scott, who confronted him solo while he was on the rampage.