Australia foils terrorist attack

By Joanne Collins

SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australian authorities arrested 17
people on Tuesday on suspicion of planning a terrorist attack,
raiding homes in Melbourne and Sydney less than a week after
parliament passed tougher anti-terror laws.

One man was shot in the Sydney raids and the police bomb
squad was examining a backpack at the scene. Outspoken Muslim
cleric Abu Bakr, who has voiced support for al Qaeda leader
Osama bin Laden, was among those arrested in Melbourne.

Prime Minister John Howard last week said Australia
received intelligence about a “terrorist threat” and amended
anti-terror laws making it easier for police to arrest
suspects.

“Intelligence was received that a group was making
arrangements to stockpile chemicals and other materials capable
of making explosives,” New South Wales state Premier Morris
Iemma told a news conference in Sydney.

“Police believe that the group was planning a terrorist
attack in Australia,” Iemma said.

Victorian state Police Commissioner Christine Nixon said
the group did not have a target and specifically ruled out the
Commonwealth Games, which are due to be held in Melbourne in
March and opened by Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II.

“But we had sufficient evidence these people were planning
a significant attack,” Nixon told reporters.

Police said they had seized chemicals which if combined
would be “volatile,” firearms, computers, travel documents and
backpacks.

Australian media last week reported that possible targets
under police surveillance were the Sydney Opera House, harbor
bridge, two Sydney oil refineries, the Australian stock
exchange in Melbourne and Melbourne’s main rail station.

Australia, a staunch U.S. ally with troops in Iraq and
Afghanistan, has never suffered a major peacetime attack on
home soil. The country has been on medium security alert since
shortly after the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United
States.

Four Australians are awaiting trial in Sydney and Melbourne
on terror charges, linked to supporting and training with
banned groups such as al Qaeda.

CHARGES

Police raided 23 houses in Sydney and Melbourne early on
Tuesday as part of the country’s largest ever counter-terrorism
operation involving hundreds of police, following a 16-month
investigation.

“We believe … we’ve disrupted a large-scale operation
which, had it been allowed to go through to fruition, we
certainly believe would have been catastrophic,” New South
Wales state Police Commissioner Ken Moroney told Australian
television.

Several searches were still under way, police told Reuters.

Police said eight people were arrested in Sydney and nine
in Melbourne. Those arrested have been charged with offences
including acts in preparation of a terrorist attack, being a
member of a terrorist group and conspiracy to commit a
terrorist act.

Muslim cleric Abu Bakr was one of nine men who appeared in
a Melbourne court to face charges.

The court was told Bakr was the spiritual leader of the
group which had engaged in military-like training and were
committed to a “violent jihad” in Australia.

Bakr has voiced his support for Osama bin Laden and
defended Muslims fighting U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan,
but denied any involvement in terror activities.

The Australia Security Intelligence Organization (ASIO),
last week acknowledged for the first time that Australia had
home-grown extremists, some of whom trained overseas.

Media reports have said ASIO is believed to have concerns
about up to 800 Muslims in Australia who have voiced support
for politically motivated violence, while up to 80 people
resident in Australia were known to have trained with militant
organizations in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

(Additional reporting by Michelle Nichols in Canberra)