17 men suspected charged with being part of a terror group were arrested in Australia on Tuesday. One wanted man was shot and killed during the police operation, which followed a 16-month investigation.
Australian police made the arrests in Sydney and Melbourne, confiscating various weapons and bomb-making material during the arrest.
Australian authorities announced that in arresting the men they had successfully foiled a major terror attack. "I was satisfied that this state was under an imminent threat of potentially a catastrophic terrorist act," Carl Scully, New South Wales Police Minister told rerporters of the AP .
Algerian-Australian Abdul Nacer Benbrika, also known as Abu Bakr, was among those detained. His support of Osama Bin Laden had put him on the wanted list of many security authorities across the world.
"The members of the Sydney group have been gathering chemicals of a kind that were used in the London Underground bombings," one spokesman said.
Abu Bakr was among nine men who appeared Tuesday morning in Melbourne Magistrates Court.
