Sydney terror suspects allegedly plotted knife attacks for caliphate
Story highlights
- Two men charged with "acts done in preparation for, or planning terrorist acts"
- They were arrested after a raid on an address in a suburb in western Sydney
- Comes weeks after a siege in a Sydney cafe left two hostages dead
(CNN)Two men have been charged
with plotting attacks in Australia following
a major counter-terrorism operation in
Sydney.
The men, named in court documents
as Omar Al-Kutobi and Mohammad
Kiad, were advanced in their
preparations for an act of terrorism
in Australia as revenge for "incidents
overseas," New South Wales Deputy Police Commissioner Catherine Burn said
in a statement Wednesday.
They were apprehended on Tuesday afternoon after a raid at a house in
Fairfield, a suburb in western Sydney, before being charged with "acts done
in preparation for, or planning terrorist acts," the statement said.
"As a result of the police activities yesterday a number of items were seized
and will be included as part of our evidence in court, and include a video
recording, a flag, a machete and a hunting knife," Burn added.
Al-Kutobi and Kiad did not apply for
bail when they appeared via video
link at a court hearing in Sydney on
Thursday, NSW Department of
Justice spokesperson Georgie
Loudon told CNN.
Their case has been adjourned to
March 16.
Police officers from the Joint Counter
Terrorism Team Sydney and members
of the Tactical Operations Unit took
part in Operation Castrum, which also
included a search of the Fairfield
address, a motor vehicle and their
place of work, the NSW Police
statement added.
"Our message is we are watching,
we are capable and we will act. That
s what the community expects and
that's what we will deliver," Burn said.
Suspects made video
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Tony Abbott told the country's parliament that the
two men made a video saying they would carry out their attack by "stabbing
the kidneys and striking the necks," the Australian Broadcasting Corporation
"Kneeling before the death cult flag with a knife in his hand and a machete
before him, one of those arrested said this: 'I swear to almighty Allah we will
carry out the first operation for the soldiers of the caliphate in Australia,'
Abbott said.
"He went on to say, 'I swear to almighty Allah, blonde people, there is no room
for blame between you and us. We only owe you, stabbing the kidneys and
striking the necks.'
The prime minister added: "I don't think it would be possible to witness uglier
fanaticism than this -- more monstrous fanaticism and extremism than this --
and I regret to say it is now present in our country."
Sydney siege
In December last year, Australian authorities stormed the Sydney cafe where
a self-styled Muslim cleric had been holding hostages, killing the gunman.
They moved in some 16 hours after the siege began, after hearing gunfire
inside the Lindt Chocolate Cafe in the center of the city. Two of the 17 hostages
initially held by the gunman died.
Two other men will appear in court in Sydney later this month after they were
charged with terror offenses late last month, with one accused of possessing
documents designed to facilitate a terror attack on Australian soil.
The arrests were made as part of Operation Appleby, an ongoing investigation
into Islamist extremists, which led to sweeping pre-dawn counter-terror raids
in Sydney in September.
Footage of one of the two men, identified as Sulayman Khalid, 20, appeared in
Australian media after his arrest, showing him dressed in a jacket bearing the
ISIS flag, storming off the set of an Australian current affairs show in August in
which guests had been discussing local support for Islamic extremism.
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