Australia: Isis Public Beheading Of Random Australian(s) Averted

[Bleipriester]

“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,” the Prime Minister told reporters.

“So this is not just suspicion, this is intent and that’s why the police and security agencies decided to act in the way they have.”

It was Australia´s biggest counter terrorism measure so far, when over 800 officers searched the homes of Islamist suspects with ties to ISIS after they detained 15 IS sympathisants. 25 arrest warrants were executed.

Mr Abbott said today’s raids were not a result of last week’s raising of the terror alert level from “medium” to “high” but based on “specific intelligence” that people were intending to carry out an attack within the community.

Mr Abbott said the safety of Australians was the government’s highest priority and that the raids showed police and security forces were “one step ahead of those who would do us harm”.

“As many of you know, there has been a major anti-terror operation in Sydney and elsewhere early this morning,” he said. “Last night I was briefed that this was imminent. It seems to have gone ahead very smoothly and professionally from the early hours of the morning.

NSW Police will allege that some of the Sydney men arrested in the operation had communicated with the Islamic State organisation while developing their alleged plan to seize a random member of the public and behead them live on camera.

In one of the Sydney raids, police removed what appeared to be a sword.

he Islamic State, a terrorist organisation operating in Iraq and Syria, has carried out a series of beheadings, including of Western journalists and aid workers, which have been filmed and subsequently broadcast over the internet.

Police will allege the Sydney group had been planning their attack for a number of months, during which time they had been under surveillance by law enforcement agencies. Sources have told The Australian that members of the group had allegedly been in contact with Islamic State during this time.

The decision to mount the raids, which involved hundreds of officers fro the NSW Police, Australian Federal Police, Australian Crime Commission and intelligence services, was made after authorities began to fear the attack may have been mounted at any time, police will allege.

Australian Federal Police said the suspected terrorists were planning “violent acts here in Australia”.

AFP Acting Commissioner Andrew Colvin said: “Police believe that this group that we have executed this operation today had the intention and had started to carry out planning to commit violent acts here in Australia. Those violent acts particularly related to random acts against members of the public.”

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[S.J.]

Good thing for them Obama isn't their president.