Author: The Associated Press
Publication: Google News
Date: August 4, 2009
URL: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iF43nm01n64aGygZE0BvOuQKMp3wD99RPSF80
Police in Australia foiled terrorist plans
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.
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, and arrested four men, all Australian citizens
ranging in age from 22 to 26, police said.
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 allegedly linked to al-Shabaab, an al-Qaida-linked Somali
extremist organization that has been fighting to overthrow Somalia's transitional
government.
The cell's plans included sending members
armed with automatic weapons into military bases in Australia, including Holsworthy
Barracks on the outskirts of Sydney, Negus said.
"The men's intention was to actually
go into the army barracks and to kill as many soldiers as they could before
they themselves were killed," Negus said. "This operation has disrupted
an alleged terrorist attack that could have claimed many lives."
The suspects were due to appear in court later
Tuesday. Rudd said they would face charges under federal laws of planning
or preparing a terrorist act.
"As the Australian government has said
consistently, there is an enduring threat from terrorism at home here in Australia
as well as overseas," Rudd told reporters in the northern city of Cairns.
"This is a sober reminder that the threat of terrorism to Australia continues."
He said he had been advised that "events
today do not at this time warrant any change to our national counterterrorism
level, which remains at medium" - the same security warning rating that
has been in place in Australia since the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks
in the United States.
Australia has not suffered a terrorist attack
on its home soil since the Sept. 11 attacks in the U.S. raised security threat
levels worldwide. But dozens of Australians have died in terrorist attacks
overseas, mostly in Indonesia including the 2002 bombings in Bali that targeted
nightclubs frequented by Australians and other foreigners.
Homegrown terrorist plots have also been relatively
few. Seven men were imprisoned in the past year for involvement in a nascent
plot to attack major sporting events in Australia in what prosecutors said
was the country's largest terrorist conspiracy.
After the Sept. 11 attacks, Australia introduced
tough new counterterrorism laws that grant police and security agencies strong
surveillance and detention powers, and stiffen prison sentences for convicted
terrorists. Australia does not have the death penalty.
Al-Shabaab, which conducts frequent attacks
in Somalia, is seeking to overthrow Somalia's Western-backed government and
establish an Islamic state. The group has claimed responsibility for several
high-profile bombings and shootings in the Somali capital of Mogadishu targeting
Ethiopian troops and Somali government officials. It has also killed journalists
and international aid workers.
The U.S. State Department's annual terrorism
report in April said al-Shabaab was providing a safe haven to al-Qaida "elements"
wanted for the 1998 bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.
The two groups have long been suspected of working together, but they have
not announced a formal alliance. Al-Qaida has operations in north Africa,
Yemen and Iraq.