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| Down Under |
| Aussie hard boyz LeT trained |
| 2005-11-09 |
| London : At least two of the 17 men arrested in raids in Melbourne and Sydney on Tuesday were trained at camps in Pakistan run by the banned Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT). They are also said to have been in contact with 7/7 suicide bomber Shehzad Tanweer. Two of the Australian suspects have also been linked to the LeT and al-Qaeda suspect Willy Brigitte, who was captured after French and Australian security services foiled a plot to bomb Australia two years ago. Australian authorities said yesterday they had prevented a catastrophic terror attack, and police said more arrests were likely. Officers seized chemicals, weapons, computers and backpacks. Police, however, declined to identify the possible targets, but there have been previous reports of suspects carrying out surveillance on stations, Sydneyâs Opera House and Harbour Bridge, and the Melbourne Stock Exchange, reports the Daily News. Abdul Nacer Benbrika, a radical Muslim cleric, was charged yesterday with masterminding the latest plot. Benbrika, also known as Abu Bakr, is known in Australia as an enthusiastic supporter of Osama bin Laden and has said that although he is against the killing of innocent people, he could not discourage his students from travelling to Afghanistan or Pakistan to train in terrorist camps. Australian Prime Minister John Howard has already issued a warning about a possible terror attack in the country. âThis country has never been immune from a possible terrorist attack. That remains the situation today and it will be tomorrow,â the paper quoted Howard, as saying. Australian police and intelligence services have long suspected that LeT is operating in the country. Earlier this year, they raided four homes in Melbourne after a ten-month investigation uncovered a plot to attack major landmarks. Mick Keelty, head of the Australian federal police, is reported to have said that some militants were known to have trained with terrorist groups in Pakistan and Afghanistan. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |