A TEENAGE boy armed with a knife was shot dead by police after he stabbed a man in the Australian west coast city of Perth, officials said today.

The incident occurred in a hardware store car park in suburban Willetton on Saturday night.

The unnamed 16-year-old attacked the man and then rushed at police officers before he was shot, Western Australian Premier Roger Cook told reporters on Sunday.

“There are indications he had been radicalised online,” Mr Cook told a news conference.

He said: “But I want to reassure the community that at this stage it appears that he acted solely and alone.”

A man in his 30s was found at the scene with a stab wound to his back. 

He was taken to a hospital in serious but stable condition, a police statement said.

Police and Australian Security Intelligence Organisation agents have been conducting a counterterrorism investigation in the east coast city of Sydney after another teenager stabbed an Assyrian Orthodox bishop and priest in a church on April 15.

That boy has been charged with committing a terrorist act. 

Six of his alleged associates have also been charged with a range of offences, including conspiring to engage in or planning a terrorist act. 

All the suspects remain in custody.