NSW Deputy Commissioner Catherine Burn said police had "sufficient information" to believe the 16-year-old boy had terrorism-related motivations. Caltex service station attendant Zeeshan Akbar, right, was fatally stabbed. Credit:Facebook "That information comes from physical evidence at the scene and other sources," she said. Fairfax Media understands the mother of the 16-year-old boy told police she thought her son had been radicalised in recent weeks, but no concrete links to religious extremism have emerged so far. It's understood the 16-year-old had made concerning Facebook posts related to Islamic State in recent weeks.

However, he also has a history of committing petty offences around the Queanbeyan area and had issues with the drug ice. Police and emergency services at the scene of the Queanbeyan service station stabbing. Credit:Karleen Minney He had a current AVO out against him in Young Local Court to protect a female and is awaiting trial in a District Court on aggravated sexual assault to inflict actual bodily harm with a weapon. Ms Burn said another line of inquiry was whether the incident was drug related. Tarpaulin sheeting was set up around the service station. Credit:Karleen Minney

The boys are also accused of robbing a bottle shop, bashing a man with a tyre iron during a home invasion and bashing a homeless man in a park with a beer bottle, before stabbing another man in the stomach in Queanbeyan about 6.20am. They were arrested following a police pursuit that crossed into the ACT. The Caltex service station where an employee was fatally stabbed remained cordoned off on Friday morning. Credit:Karleen Minney Police are treating the three earlier attacks as motivated by robbery but the fatal stabbing of the service station attendant as a possible act of terrorism. Mr Akbar, from Pakistan, was stabbed multiple times in a "brutal" attack but police were not yet sure if he was specifically targeted.

NSW police sealed off the Caltex service station. Credit:Karleen Minney The man's colleague arrived at the service station to start his midnight shift, and found the victim lying on the floor and the front windows smashed. He could not be revived and died at the scene. Friends paid tribute to Mr Akbar, a Muslim man who was hoping to get his Australian citizenship. His friends had posted photos online of him celebrating New Year's Eve at Sydney Harbour and sightseeing at the Blue Mountains and Collins Beach in Manly. "This is really an unbearable loss for his family," one friend posted.

Superintendent Rod Smith, from the Monaro Local Area Command, described the night's events as "horrific". "It doesn't need to be said, but it doesn't get more serious than this," he said. "It's an absolutely horrific series of events." He said the service station's front doors had locked during the incident, trapping the two alleged offenders inside. They had to "smash their way out" of the front windows to escape, he said. Both boys were being questioned by ACT police on Friday evening.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said the circumstances of the stabbing warranted the involvement of the Joint Counter-Terrorism Team. "I can say that the circumstances have raised sufficient concern, as I've discussed with the Commissioner of the AFP, Andrew Colvin, raised sufficient concern to warrant the involvement of the Joint Counter-Terrorism Team," he said. "The involvement in this crime of two males, two youths, teenagers, is a shocking matter and one that underlines many of the concerns we have raised in this field." Alan Webber, the owner of the Caltex store where the fatal stabbing took place, said he was shocked by the crime and "sincerely and desperately sorry" for the families involved. Queanbeyan residents quickly took to social media to share their distress at the news of the service station employee's death.

"I used to go here all the time, the staff were all really wonderful," a local said. Loading "They are genuine and ask how your day is going. My thoughts are with them and their family." Another added: "This is so incredibly sad. They are the nicest people who work there and that is heartbreaking for all of them and the poor family who don't have their loved one."