Australian police say they have foiled a mission by Islamic terrorists to launch a suicide shoot-out on a military base in what they say would have been the worst terrorist attack on Australian soil.Police also say they have pinpointed an Australian terrorist cell supporting and directly involved in insurgency activity in the African country of Somalia.Police began the operation, codenamed Neath, seven months ago. It involved some 400 police officers and this morning just before dawn, they raided 19 homes in Melbourne and arrested four Australian citizens of either Somali or Lebanese descent."Police will allege the men were planning to carry out a suicide terrorist attack on a defence establishment within Australia involving an armed assault with automatic weapons," says Australian Federal Police acting Chief Commissioner Tony Negus.Police say they planned to shoot dead as many military personnel as possible before turning the guns on themselves at an army base in Sydney.Members of the alleged terrorist group had reportedly been observed carrying out surveillance at the Holsworthy army base and other suspicious activity around other defence bases. The cell is believed to be inspired by a Somalia-based terrorist movement which has links to al-Qaeda."The alleged members of the group have been actively seeking a fatwa or religious ruling to justify the group's plan to conduct a terrorist act in Australia," Mr Negus says...more..http://www.3news.co.nz/Australia-police-foil-terrorist-plot/tabid/417/articleID/115218/cat/251/Default.aspxHolsworthy terror attack averted
http://www.theleader.com.au/news/local/news/general/holsworthy-terror-attack-averted/1586633.aspx
Australia Police Hold 4 shabaab in Terror Plot
SYDNEY — The Australian police on Tuesday arrested four men with suspected links to a Somalia-based Islamic orga
nization, saying they planned to stage a suicide shooting attack on an Australian military base. The four men, all Australian citizens of Somali and Lebanese descent, were arrested after hundreds state and federal police swept through 19 homes in Melbourne early Tuesday, the culmination of a seven-month investigation involving Australia’s intelligence agency.The authorities alleged the four men planned to arm themselves with semi-automatic weapons and stage a guerilla attack on Holsworthy Barracks, a major military installation in western Sydney...more..http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/04/world/asia/04australia.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss
Here's a portrait of Al-Shabaab in Somalia from Council of Foreign Relations. http://bit.ly/17IfQ
No comments:
Post a Comment