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World|life|December 23, 2016 / 12:16 PM
Australia says it foiled a terrorist plot

AKIPRESS.COM - A terrorist plot to attack the Australian city of Melbourne with explosives, knives and guns — possibly on Christmas Day — is believed to have been headed off with the arrest of five people, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said on Friday.

Mr. Turnbull told reporters in Sydney the group was “self-radicalized” and inspired by the Islamic State. Five men, ages 21 to 26, were to be formally charged later Friday, the authorities said. Another man and a woman were also taken into custody, but were later released.

According to the police, the plotters had scouted Federation Square, a popular shopping and entertainment district, as well as the Flinders Street train station, Melbourne’s busiest, and St. Paul’s Cathedral, an Anglican church. All three locations are close to one another in the center of the city, NYTimes reported.

The country’s justice minister, Michael Keenan, said the planned attack was imminent and “would have been the most serious in terms of its intent” in Australia. Had it occurred, he added, it would have “caused very significant casualties.”

Andrew Colvin, the commissioner of Australia’s Federal Police, said the arrests had been carried out in overnight raids involving about 400 officers in Melbourne’s northern and western suburbs.

“This is a significant disruption of what we would call an imminent terrorist event,” Mr. Colvin said at a news conference in Sydney, held with Mr. Keenan and Mr. Turnbull.

“They had moved very quickly from an intention to a capability, a developed capability, including quite progressed plans, we will allege,” Mr. Colvin said.

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