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Australia on alert over threats to hit govt buildings

SYDNEY — Security at Australian government buildings and military installations was dramatically bulked up yesterday, after Prime Minister Tony Abbott said intelligence agencies had picked up more details about potential attacks from “chatter” among terrorists in Iraq and Syria and their supporters in the country.

Police officers stand guard outside a house during a raid in the Guildford area of Sydney on Sept 18, 2014.  Photo: AFP

Police officers stand guard outside a house during a raid in the Guildford area of Sydney on Sept 18, 2014. Photo: AFP

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SYDNEY — Security at Australian government buildings and military installations was dramatically bulked up yesterday, after Prime Minister Tony Abbott said intelligence agencies had picked up more details about potential attacks from “chatter” among terrorists in Iraq and Syria and their supporters in the country.

Warning that Australia was facing the most serious security challenge in its history, Mr Abbott said that armed guards would be stationed permanently at Parliament House in Canberra.

The Australian Defence Force also announced it was stepping up security on all bases and barracks across the country.

“The chatter involving Parliament House was chatter between Australians in Syria and Iraq and their supporters here in Australia,” Mr Abbott told reporters.

“I’m not aware that specific individuals have been named as part of this chatter, but certainly government, government people and Parliament have been referred to as part of this chatter,” he said.

The Prime Minister’s comments came as the Australian Federal Police revealed that officers had carried out further overnight raids following Thursday’s massive anti-terror operation — the largest in the country’s history. More than 800 police officers were involved in Thursday’s security operation in Sydney and Brisbane, which the authorities said had thwarted a plot by militants linked to the Islamic State group to behead a random member of the public.

United States Secretary of State John Kerry on Thursday called the foiled plot an “extravaganza of brutality” and said it was evidence of the radical group’s ability to attack targets outside the Middle East.

Australia is concerned about the number of its citizens believed to be fighting overseas with militant groups.

Mr Abbott said at least 100 Australians are in the Middle East either fighting with or supporting the Islamic State or other militant groups, a number that he said had been increasing in recent months. At least 20 are believed to have returned to Australia and pose a security risk.

Last week, the national security agency raised its four-tier threat level to “high” for the first time.

Highlighting the risk of home-grown militants returning from the Middle East, Mr Abbott pledged on Sunday to send a 600-strong force and strike aircraft to join a US-led coalition fighting Islamic State militants in Iraq.

The raids on Thursday were focused in western Sydney and the Queensland state capital of Brisbane, where two men were arrested on terrorism-related charges last week. The authorities said 15 people were detained during the pre-dawn operation.

Omarjan Azari, 22, from Sydney, has been charged with conspiracy to commit a terrorist act and will remain in custody until a hearing in November, the authorities said. A second 24-year-old man from Sydney was charged late on Thursday with possessing ammunition without a licence and unauthorised possession of a prohibited weapon. He has been released on bail.

“The advice of our police and security agencies was that attacks of this nature could take place within days,” Mr Abbott said, explaining the scope and speed of the raids.

Federal Police Acting Commissioner Andrew Colvin said more warrants had continued to be issued following the raids and that the police were searching the “extraordinarily large” amount of material seized in the operation for evidence.

Both he and Mr Abbott, however, declined to confirm how many people detained during the raids had been released or under what legal authority they were being held if no charges had been laid against them.

Several hundred people protested late on Thursday against the raids in Sydney’s largely Muslim Lakemba neighbourhood, where they expressed anger, saying the police had used brutal tactics in the raid and the new security laws aimed at targeting extremists were unfairly focused on Muslims.

Mr Abbott said the Muslims who had protested against the raids did not represent their faith and should take a “long, hard look” at themselves, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.

He said only about 100 people had attended the protest rally and that they were unrepresentative of Australian Muslims. He added that he would be disappointed in any Australian who “would be misguided enough to support anything that could lead to demonstration killings of innocent Australians”.

The leader of the opposition Greens Party, meanwhile, warned that the raids risked alienating and perhaps radicalising elements of the Muslim population. “The best way of keeping Australia safe is for the community to come together at a time like this,” she said at a media conference.

“To make sure that we’re not having people feeling like they’re being marginalised. Like they’re being rejected,” she added. Agencies

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