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MELBOURNE,
Australia, August 29 – 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," an Australian court has
heard.
Further details of the alleged plot emerged 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.
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.
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 on Sydney's outskirts, and
go on a shooting spree until they were killed.
Australian Federal Police agent David Kinton told the court that phone
intercepts revealed a common theme of conversations held by one of the
suspects, Saney Edow Aweys, was "hatred towards Australia and Australian
people and anyone who doesn't follow Islam."
The court was read a transcript of an alleged conversation between Aweys
and another suspect, Abdirahman Ahmed, in which Aweys described the
attack plan and said the group knew where to get guns.
"Their desire is to fan out as much as possible ... until they would be
hit," Aways is cited as saying. "Twenty minutes would be enough for us
to take out five, six, 10, eight, whatever. Allah knows."
Members of the group are allegedly connected to Al-Shabab, a Somali
extremist organization that is fighting the African nation's
transitional government. It is believed to have links to al-Qaida.
The court also heard that the alleged ringleader of the plot, Wissam
Mahmoud Fattal, told a third suspect, Nayaf El Sayed, that he wanted "to
strike big" if the attack was approved by a cleric in Somalia, according
to a conversation intercepted by police.
"We are working together on a great, monstrous thing," Fattal told El
Sayed, the police transcript said. "We need to persevere."
The suspects, arrested in raids in the southern city of Melbourne
earlier this month, each face life in prison if convicted.
Police allege some of the suspects had been to Somalia and may have
fought alongside or been trained with Al-Shabaab members, and that the
group sought the approval of an Islamic cleric in the African country to
undertake their attack in Australia.
Magistrate Peter Reardon is yet to decide whether to grant the three
suspects bail.
Source:- AP, Aug 28, 2009
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