Australian police thwart ISIL beheading plot
More than 800 Australian officers raided dozens of properties in the suburbs of Sydney on Thursday, in an operation to thwart an apparent Islamic State terror plot to carry out random attacks on the public, police said.
Prime Minister Tony Abbott confirmed to reporters that a senior group leader in the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, was calling on supporters to carry out beheadings.
"That's the intelligence we received," Abbott said. "The exhortations — quite direct exhortations — were coming from an Australian who is apparently quite senior in ISIL to networks of support back in Australia to conduct demonstration killings here in this country."
Fifteen people were detained in the raids, and nine were later released, the New South Wales Police said in a statement. Two people were charged — one man was charged with possessing ammunition without license and unauthorized possession of a prohibited weapon. Another was charged with conspiracy to commit acts in preparation of a terrorist act, the statement added.
Abbott did not name the Australian who was calling on supporters to attack the public, but police have issued a warrant for Mohammad Ali Baryale, a 33-year-old former Sydney nightclub bouncer believed to be Australia's most senior member of the Islamic State.
In court Thursday, prosecutors said Omarjan Azari, 22, of Sydney was conspiring with Baryale to commit a "horrifying" terrorist act that involved the "random selection of persons to rather gruesomely execute," The Sydney Morning Herald reported.
The Herald reported the raids moved forward after a phone call was intercepted between Azari and Baryalei on Tuesday, where the two discussed a plot to kidnap and murder a random person and video tape the attack.
Police raids also took place in Brisbane on Thursday, but the BBC reported that operation was not linked to the one in Sydney, and was instead related to arrests made last week of two men who were being charged with terrorism-related offenses.
Thursday's developments come after Australia raised its terror threat level to "high" last week, meaning a terrorist attack is "likely," but said there was no knowledge of a specific attack. "High" is the second-highest level on a four-point scale.
Australia estimates that about 60 of its citizens are fighting for the Islamic State group and the Nusra Front in Iraq and Syria, and 15 Australian fighters have been killed so far in those conflicts, including two young suicide bombers.
About 100 Australians are believed to be actively supporting extremist groups from within Australia, recruiting fighters and grooming suicide bomber candidates as well as providing funds and equipment, the government says.
At a press conference Thursday, Andrew Scipione, commissioner of New South Wales Police, urged the public to remain calm.
"We know that the work this morning will ensure that all those plans that may have been on foot have been thwarted," he said.
Contributing: The Associated Press