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Islamic State plot in Australia raises questions
The Islamic State plot to carry out random beheadings in Sydney alleged by police is a simple and barbaric scheme that has shaken Australians
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he Islamic State plot to carry out random beheadings in Sydney alleged by police is a simple and barbaric scheme that has shaken Australians. But terrorism experts on Friday questioned whether the ruthless movement had the capacity or inclination to sustain a terror campaign so far from the Middle East.
Police said they thwarted a plot to carry out beheadings in Australia by Islamic State group supporters when they raided more than a dozen properties across Sydney on Thursday.
Two of the 15 suspects detained by police were charged in court on Thursday, officials said.
Nine others were freed before the day was over.
Some terrorism experts saw the plot as a potential shift in Islamic State's focus from creating an Islamic caliphate in the Middle East. Others, including Professor of International Relations and Security Studies at Murdoch University, Samuel Makinda, said it is more likely a symptom of policy confusion within a disparate group.
"If you have people coming in from different backgrounds from all these countries, when it comes to policy making, they're going to fight each other, they're going to kill each other," Makinda said.
"On ISIS, I see no direct threat to Australia or to any other country at the moment except those in the Middle East," he added.
ISIS refers to the al-Qaida splinter group leading Sunni militants in Iraq and Syria, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, which now calls itself simply Islamic State.
The raids involving 800 federal and state police officers ' the largest in the country's history ' came in response to intelligence that an Islamic State group leader in Syria was calling on Australian supporters to kill, Prime Minister Tony Abbott said.
The raids sparked protests by hundreds of Muslims in the Sydney suburb of Lakemba on Thursday night, where speakers accused the government of exploiting public fear in a bid to get contentious counterterrorism laws through Parliament.
Abbott said Friday that police were taking over security at Parliament House in Canberra, telling Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio that the building, "government and government people" had been identified as targets.
With national grand finals approaching in Rugby League and Australian Rules Football ' the country's most popular sports ' police have said security will be stepped up at sports arenas and other public venues where people gather in large numbers.
