Australian terror raids uncover plot to attack Parliament House
TONY Abbott this morning confirmed “chatter” has been detected about terrorists targeting Parliament House and high-profile politicians.
Security at Parliament House is being upgraded “almost immediately”, with Federal Police to be back in charge of both “internal and external” security, the Prime Minister told Channel Nine’s Today Show.
A senior Australian ISIL operative in Syria has been sending orders back to his networks here in Australia, Mr Abbott said.
“That is why the police acted swiftly and decisively yesterday to ensure that those networks are disrupted.”
Mr Abbott said there are “ongoing operations”.
“We are in a heightened state of vigilance and as soon as the police and agencies have evidence that any activity is likely, they will act.”
“The advice of our police and security agencies was that attacks of this nature could take place within days,” he said.
“That is why they acted.”
He later told Channel Seven’s Sunrise program “Parliament House certainly is a potential target”.
Mr Abbott admitted “it is difficult to entirely protect our community from this kind of act”.
“The regrettable reality is that to mount the kind of attacks which ISIL in Syria and in Iraq has in mind for Australia, all you need is a determined individual who will kill without compunction, a knife, an iPhone and a victim,” he said.
But he praised the “extremely professional” work of Australia’s Police and security agencies.
“I am confident that we have the where with all to do what we need to keep our community safe.”
Attorney General George Brandis described Parliament House as an “iconic building”.
“We are going to take whatever steps necessary to protect Parliament House,” he said.
He denied yesterday’s raids were “overreach”, telling ABC radio a large body of evidence was taken.
“That’s being assessed as we speak.”
Like Mr Abbott, Senator Brandis said the intelligence suggested an attack was likely “within days” and hence why authorities acted.
News Corporation earlier revealed intelligence agencies had picked up “chatter” involving a potential random attack on Parliament House, with fears among national security and intelligence agencies that the Prime Minister and other senior government officials were prime targets.
Senior intelligence sources confirmed that “chatter” about Parliament House had been intercepted and they now held fears the building had already been “scoped out” for pre-planning of a “Mumbai” style attack involving automatic weapons.
A day after 800 police swooped on homes in Sydney and Brisbane in the biggest terror raids in Australia’s history, details of another series of attacks involving snatching innocent people off the street also emerged.
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