Australian police treat fatal shoot-out as terrorist attack
Print Edition
A fatal shoot-out claimed by the Islamic State group was being treated as a terrorist attack by Australian police yesterday.
Prime Minister Malcolom Turnbull condemned the attack as “shocking and cowardly.”
A man of Somali background was killed in a gun battle with police when he opened fire following an hourlong stand-off after taking a female escort hostage at an apartment block in Melbourne on Monday.
It is alleged 29-year-old Yacqub Khayre, linked to a 2009 terror plot targeting an Australian army barracks, had first murdered a Chinese-born Australian man working as a receptionist in the foyer.
Police said he made statements “around al-Qaeda” and called a local television station making similar comments.
Authorities labeled the attack as a terrorism incident but added that investigations were still ongoing into whether it was planned or random.
“We’re not seeing anything indicating that he’s got some message from overseas to do this at all but, again, early days,” said Victoria Police chief commissioner Graham Ashton.
He said it was possible that Khayre might have been attempting to lure police by taking the escort — reportedly a sex worker — hostage.
The Amaq news agency, which is affiliated with IS, carried a statement claiming responsibility.
Turnbull said the attack underlined the need to be constantly vigilant. “This terrorist attack by a known criminal, a man who was only recently released on parole, is a shocking, cowardly crime,” the prime minister added.
Australian officials have grown increasingly concerned over the threat of extremist attacks.
They say they have prevented 12 attacks on home soil since the threat level was raised in September 2014, including a foiled Christmas Day plot in Melbourne last year, with more than 60 people charged.
But four have gone ahead, including the murder of a Sydney police employee in 2015 by a 15-year-old boy.
Khayre, whose parents were refugees from Somalia, was known to police and had a long criminal history.
He was charged and acquitted over a foiled plot to attack an army barracks in Sydney in 2009.
Khayre was released on parole late last year after serving time for intent to cause injury and arson.
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