Police claimed to have foiled a plot by suspects with ties to a Qaeda-linked Somali group to storm a military base and carry out a suicide attack. Four suspects were arrested.
Police in Australia today claimed to have foiled an Islamist extremist plot by suspects with ties to a Qaeda-linked Somali group to storm a military base and carry out a suicide attack.
"The terrorists planned to storm into the military base in Sydney in New South Wales and open fire with automatic weapons at anyone in sight until they were shot dead," Tony Negus, acting commissioner of the federal police, told reporters.
But a well-armed 400-strong Australian police posse foiled the plot. In a pre-dawn swoop, the police raided premises all around the city and took four suspects into custody.
Those taken into custody are alleged to have ties to al-Shabaab, an Islamist group that has been planning to overthrow Somalia's trans-national government.
Well-briefed police officers involved in the raids codenamed 'Operation Neath' carried out a smooth campaign to surprise the plotters in their homes and swiftly arrest them in an operation that is said to be the first on such a scale in the country.
The unearthing of the plot prompted prime minister Kevin Rudd to declare that the conspiracy was a "sober reminder" that Australia was still under threat of terrorism.
Four persons of Somali and Lebanese descent — all Australian citizens — in the age group of 22 to 26 were arrested, while several others were being questioned in connection with the plot, under which the alleged terrorists planned to attack Sydney's Holsworthy army base, police said.
An NSW Police spokesperson said 20 officers from the Counter Terrorism and Special Tactics Command helped in the Melbourne phase of the investigation over a number of months. No raids or arrests were made in NSW, the spokesperson said.
The investigation revealed that some of the alleged plotters had travelled to Somalia to join fighting there, he said.
The group had been "actively seeking a fatwa, or religious ruling, to justify its plan for a terrorist act in Australia", Negus said.
Victoria Police chief commissioner Simon Overland said search warrants issued across Melbourne and at Colac in the state's southwest may take 24 hours to complete.
Overland said police had been anxious to control the alleged threat during their investigation and the time had come to act. "I think it's sufficient to say that we got to a point where we were satisfied it was appropriate to take some action, and that's what we did," Overland said.
Overland stressed that an overwhelming number of Muslims in Australia and Melbourne were valued members of the community, not terrorists.
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