Australian police officers are seen at a house in the suburb of Glenroy in Melbourne, which was raided in connection to planned terror attacks August 4, 2009. Australian police have arrested several people in the southern city of Melbourne on suspicion of planning to carry out a terror attack, police said in a statement on Tuesday. "Police believe members of a Melbourne-based group have been undertaking planning to carry out a terrorist attack in Australia and allegedly involved in hostilities in Somalia," the statement said.
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said the plot was a "sober reminder" that Australia is still under threat from extremist groups enraged that the country sent troops to join the U.S.-led military campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Some 400 officers from state and national security services took part in 19 pre-dawn raids on properties in Melbourne, Australia's second largest city, police said. Four men, all Australian citizens of Somali or Lebanese descent and aged between 22 and 26, were arrested, and several others were being questioned Tuesday, police said.
Australian Federal Police Acting Commissioner Tony Negus said the raids followed a seven-month surveillance operation of a group of people with alleged ties to al-Shabaab, an al-Qaida-linked Somali extremist organization that has been fighting to overthrow Somalia's transitional government.
"Police will allege that the men were planning to carry out a suicide terrorist attack on a defense establishment within Australia involving an armed assault with automatic weapons," Negus told reporters. "Details of the planning indicated the alleged offenders were prepared to inflict a sustained attack on military personnel until they themselves were killed."
Holsworthy Barracks on the outskirts of Sydney was one of the group's potential targets, and surveillance had been carried out at other bases, he said, declining to identify them.
Negus said the investigation also found that some Australian citizens had traveled to Somalia "to participate in hostilities" there, and that the group was seeking a fatwa, or Islamic religious ruling, approving their plans for the Australian attack. Negus did not say whose approval was being sought.
Tuesday, August 04, 2009
DTN News: Australia Foils Terror Plot For Suicide Attack On Army Base, Arrests 4 Somali-Linked Suspects
DTN News: Australia Foils Terror Plot For Suicide Attack On Army Base, Arrests 4 Somali-Linked Suspects
*Source: DTN News / Int'l News
(NSI News Source Info) MELBOURNE, Australia - August 4, 2009: Police in Australia foiled a terrorist plot for commando-style suicide attacks on at least one army base, arresting four men Tuesday with suspected links to a Somali Islamist group, senior officers said. Australian police officers are seen at a house in the suburb of Glenroy in Melbourne, which was raided in connection to planned terror attacks August 4, 2009. Australian police have arrested several people in the southern city of Melbourne on suspicion of planning to carry out a terror attack, police said in a statement on Tuesday. "Police believe members of a Melbourne-based group have been undertaking planning to carry out a terrorist attack in Australia and allegedly involved in hostilities in Somalia," the statement said.
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said the plot was a "sober reminder" that Australia is still under threat from extremist groups enraged that the country sent troops to join the U.S.-led military campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Some 400 officers from state and national security services took part in 19 pre-dawn raids on properties in Melbourne, Australia's second largest city, police said. Four men, all Australian citizens of Somali or Lebanese descent and aged between 22 and 26, were arrested, and several others were being questioned Tuesday, police said.
Australian Federal Police Acting Commissioner Tony Negus said the raids followed a seven-month surveillance operation of a group of people with alleged ties to al-Shabaab, an al-Qaida-linked Somali extremist organization that has been fighting to overthrow Somalia's transitional government.
"Police will allege that the men were planning to carry out a suicide terrorist attack on a defense establishment within Australia involving an armed assault with automatic weapons," Negus told reporters. "Details of the planning indicated the alleged offenders were prepared to inflict a sustained attack on military personnel until they themselves were killed."
Holsworthy Barracks on the outskirts of Sydney was one of the group's potential targets, and surveillance had been carried out at other bases, he said, declining to identify them.
Negus said the investigation also found that some Australian citizens had traveled to Somalia "to participate in hostilities" there, and that the group was seeking a fatwa, or Islamic religious ruling, approving their plans for the Australian attack. Negus did not say whose approval was being sought.
Australian police officers are seen at a house in the suburb of Glenroy in Melbourne, which was raided in connection to planned terror attacks August 4, 2009. Australian police have arrested several people in the southern city of Melbourne on suspicion of planning to carry out a terror attack, police said in a statement on Tuesday. "Police believe members of a Melbourne-based group have been undertaking planning to carry out a terrorist attack in Australia and allegedly involved in hostilities in Somalia," the statement said.
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said the plot was a "sober reminder" that Australia is still under threat from extremist groups enraged that the country sent troops to join the U.S.-led military campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Some 400 officers from state and national security services took part in 19 pre-dawn raids on properties in Melbourne, Australia's second largest city, police said. Four men, all Australian citizens of Somali or Lebanese descent and aged between 22 and 26, were arrested, and several others were being questioned Tuesday, police said.
Australian Federal Police Acting Commissioner Tony Negus said the raids followed a seven-month surveillance operation of a group of people with alleged ties to al-Shabaab, an al-Qaida-linked Somali extremist organization that has been fighting to overthrow Somalia's transitional government.
"Police will allege that the men were planning to carry out a suicide terrorist attack on a defense establishment within Australia involving an armed assault with automatic weapons," Negus told reporters. "Details of the planning indicated the alleged offenders were prepared to inflict a sustained attack on military personnel until they themselves were killed."
Holsworthy Barracks on the outskirts of Sydney was one of the group's potential targets, and surveillance had been carried out at other bases, he said, declining to identify them.
Negus said the investigation also found that some Australian citizens had traveled to Somalia "to participate in hostilities" there, and that the group was seeking a fatwa, or Islamic religious ruling, approving their plans for the Australian attack. Negus did not say whose approval was being sought.
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