Australians Say They Foiled Terror Attack

SYDNEY, Australia - Two Islamic terror cells were rushing to become the first to stage a major "jihad" terror bombing in Australia, a prosecutor said Tuesday after armed police arrested 17 suspects in a string of coordinated pre-dawn raids in two cities.

"Thankfully, the police forces of this country might just have prevented a catastrophic act of terrorism ... either in Melbourne or in Sydney," said New South Wales state Police Minister Carl Scully.

One of the suspects, Abdulla Merhi, wanted to carry out attacks to avenge the war in

Iraq, police said in a Melbourne court.

Australian Prime Minister John Howard was a strong supporter of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq and still has hundreds of troops in the country.

Opponents of Howard say that has raised the likelihood of terrorists striking Australia.

"We have, in the case of the role we played in

East Timor and the role we played in Iraq, also drawn ourselves to the attention of people who would commit terrorist acts against this country," said Kim Beazley, leader of the opposition Labor Party.

Norm Hazzard, who heads the state's counterterror police unit, said the suspects were followers of the al-Qaida chief.

"I think you can go back to

Osama bin Laden and those who follow his philosophy — that is what terrorism in its modern form is all about and there's no doubt that this group followed that same philosophy," he said.

About 500 armed police arrested nine men in the southern city of Melbourne and eight in Sydney, including one man critically injured in a gun fight with police.

Police said they expected more arrests in coming days and weeks. Federal police raided another Sydney home Tuesday night, but there were no immediate reports of arrests.

The raids came less than a week after Howard strengthened counterterror laws after saying intelligence agencies had warned of a possible imminent terror attack.

And he went on national television to say the risk was not over despite Tuesday's arrests.

"This country has never been immune from a possible terrorist attack," he said. "That remains the situation today and it will be the situation tomorrow."

Police said the raids appeared to have come before the plotters settled on a target.

Both cells were led by 45-year-old firebrand cleric Abu Bakr, an Australian who was born in Algeria, a prosecutor said.

Bakr made headlines earlier this year by calling bin Laden a "good man."

The suspects were stockpiling the same kind of chemicals used in the July 7 bombings that killed 57 people on buses and trains in London, prosecutor Richard Maidment told Melbourne Magistrates Court at a hearing for the nine people arrested in that city.

"Each of the members of the group are committed to the cause of violent jihad," he added, saying they underwent military-style training at a rural camp northeast of Melbourne.

Bakr was charged with leading the terror group while the other Melbourne suspects were charged with membership of a terror group. Seven, including Abu Bakr, were ordered detained until a court appearance on Jan. 31. Two others were to hear Wednesday whether they would be released on bail.

Detective Sergeant Chris Murray told the court that police surveillance had picked up one suspect, 20-year-old Merhi, pleading for permission to become a martyr.

Murray said Merhi appeared impatient, and it was clear to police he wanted to die in a way "similar to the nature of a suicide bomber."

Maidment said the Melbourne cell appeared keen to be first to stage an attack.

"There has been discussion amongst the Melbourne group that the Sydney group were further ahead of them and they were anxious to do something themselves," he said.

Seven men arrested in Sydney were held in cells under a heavily guarded downtown court during a five-minute hearing at which they were ordered jailed until another hearing on Friday on charges of preparing a terror act by manufacturing explosives.

The man shot by police was under guard in hospital and was not immediately charged.

Defense lawyer Adam Houda told reporters the Sydney suspects were innocent.

"There's no evidence that terrorism was contemplated or being planned by any particular person at any particular time or at any particular place," he said.

Terrorism expert Aldo Borgu of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute said it was too early to assess how great a threat the men posed.

"There's just not enough information out there about these raids to judge how serious or imminent the threat was or how widespread the phenomenon of homegrown terrorism actually is," Borgu said.

In a sign that the arrests could spark a backlash among Australia's nearly 300,000-strong Muslim community, angry supporters of the suspects clashed violently with news cameramen in Melbourne and Sydney.

New South Wales Police Commissioner Ken Moroney reassured the Muslim community they were not being targeted.

"This has nothing to do with ethnic origin, cultural beliefs, or religious beliefs, this is about people preparing to commit an act of terrorism," he said.

UPDATE 10:20 PM EST

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