Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has warned that his country is now under a permanent and increased threat of Islamic attack

He also announced plans to fingerprint and face-scan visitors from 10 high-risk countries. Rudd said there was a growing threat from Islamist radicals born or raised in Australia. He said that many "home-grown terrorists" were inspired by what he called international jihadist narratives, as he released a new report compiled by intelligence agencies. Al-Qaida-linked groups in Yemen and Sudan are the new center of threat internationally, the policy paper says, and the risks posed by Afghanistan and Pakistan remain high. The paper says that, despite Indonesia's successes against terrorism, the Jakarta hotel attacks of July 2009 point to an ongoing threat there. Recently, five Australian citizens of Lebanese, Libyan and Bangladeshi origin were jailed for up to 28 years for gathering weapons in preparation for an attack on an unknown target. In August 2009, five men with alleged links to Somalia's al-Shabab militants were arrested and charged over an alleged plot to attack a Sydney military barracks.

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