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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Two accused of plotting attack in Sydney

SYDNEY – Two men were charged today with planning to launch an imminent terrorist attack in Australia, after police seized a homemade flag associated with the Islamic State group, a machete and a hunting knife in a counterterrorism raid.

The men, aged 24 and 25, would have carried out the attack on Tuesday if they had not been arrested that day in the raid in the Sydney suburb of Fairfield, New South Wales state Deputy Police Commissioner Catherine Burn told reporters.

A video that was seized during the raid showed one of the men making threats, though Burn declined to detail exactly what was said. Australian Attorney General George Brandis later told the Senate that the video depicted one of the suspects kneeling in front of the Islamic State flag with the knife and machete while making a politically motivated statement and threatening to commit “violent acts” with those weapons.

The men planned to launch their attack in western Sydney, he said.

Asked whether they were planning a beheading, Burn replied, “We don’t really know what act they were going to commit.”

Police were trying to determine whether the men were in contact with anyone from the Islamic State movement.

Omar Al-Kutobi and Mohammad Kiad were charged with undertaking acts in preparation or planning for a terrorist act, which carries a maximum punishment of life in prison. Neither man appeared in the courtroom.