Australia terror suspects planned 'monstrous' attack
AP
Published: August 25, 2009, 23:03
Melbourne: Alleged conspirators in a terror plot to attack an Australian army base hated non-Muslims and described their planned suicide mission as a "great, monstrous thing", a court heard Tuesday.
Phone calls between the men and with an Islamic cleric in Somalia that were intercepted by police show the suspects thought they could kill up to 10 soldiers in about 20 minutes before being killed themselves in the attack, according to police records presented to the court.
Some further details of the alleged plot have emerged this week in a bail hearing in the Melbourne Magistrate's Court for three of five men arrested earlier this month and charged with conspiring to plot a terrorist attack.
Police allege the men - all Australian citizens with Somali or Lebanese origins - planned to send a team of gunmen into one of Australia's largest military bases. Holsworthy Barracks is on Sydney's outskirts, and the men planned to go on a shooting spree there until they were killed.
Members of the group are allegedly connected to Al Shabab, a Somali extremist organisation that is fighting the African nation's transitional government. It is believed to have links to Al Qaida.
The suspects, arrested in raids in the southern city of Melbourne earlier this month, each face life in prison if convicted.
AP
Published: August 25, 2009, 23:03
Melbourne: Alleged conspirators in a terror plot to attack an Australian army base hated non-Muslims and described their planned suicide mission as a "great, monstrous thing", a court heard Tuesday.
Phone calls between the men and with an Islamic cleric in Somalia that were intercepted by police show the suspects thought they could kill up to 10 soldiers in about 20 minutes before being killed themselves in the attack, according to police records presented to the court.
Some further details of the alleged plot have emerged this week in a bail hearing in the Melbourne Magistrate's Court for three of five men arrested earlier this month and charged with conspiring to plot a terrorist attack.
Police allege the men - all Australian citizens with Somali or Lebanese origins - planned to send a team of gunmen into one of Australia's largest military bases. Holsworthy Barracks is on Sydney's outskirts, and the men planned to go on a shooting spree there until they were killed.
Members of the group are allegedly connected to Al Shabab, a Somali extremist organisation that is fighting the African nation's transitional government. It is believed to have links to Al Qaida.
The suspects, arrested in raids in the southern city of Melbourne earlier this month, each face life in prison if convicted.
