Australia to review army base security

CANBERRA - The Australian Defence Force will review security at its bases following the arrest of an alleged terror cell planning a suicide attack on a key special forces barracks in Sydney.

The review, announced yesterday because of concern that entry to the bases is guarded only by unarmed civilian staff, came as police began federal and state investigations into the source of a story that appeared in the Australian newspaper as about 400 officers prepared for a predawn swoop on houses across northern Melbourne on Tuesday.

Police said the publication of the story before suspects were in custody risked compromising an operation to prevent an attack that could have caused many deaths.

The investigations into possible flaws in Australia's counter-terrorism machinery have come as a backdrop to one of the most alarming allegations to face the nation since new laws and security precautions were accelerated in the wake of the September 11, 2001, terror attacks in the United States.

Two cells planning attacks in Sydney and Melbourne were broken in 2005, and 22 men have been convicted of terror-related crimes or are before the courts.

But Tuesday's Melbourne raids and the arrest of Australian citizens of Somali and Lebanese extraction not only confirmed the threat of home-grown terrorism, but exposed the unexpected existence in Australia of violent supporters of the al-Shabaab organisation and the potential for suicide attacks.

The extreme Islamist group is waging a war for the control of Somalia.

So far five men have faced court on charges of conspiracy to plan an attack on Holsworthy Army base in southwestern Sydney, home to SAS, paratrooper, commando and helicopter units attached to the special forces command.

Nayef El Sayed, 25, Wissam Mahmoud Fattal, 33, Abdirahman Ahmed, 25, Yacqub Khayre, 21, and Saney Edow Aweys, 26, have been remanded in custody until October 26.

Ahmed has also been charged with breaching the Foreign Incursions and Recruitment Act, and engaging in a hostile act in a foreign country.

In Sydney, police yesterday released a man from the heavily Lebanese suburb of Lakemba after questioning that New South Wales Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione said had been "very helpful".

In court, police said that telephone and email intercepts had confirmed that the alleged terrorists had intended to obtain automatic weapons and attack Holsworthy, killing as many people as they could before they were themselves killed.

Security cameras had recorded Fattal checking security at the base in March, and an email sent to his alleged co-conspirators described entry to the base as "easy".

The men have been defiant in court, with both Fattal and El Sayed refusing to stand for the magistrate. They said they would stand only for God.

As he was being led out after his hearing yesterday, Fattal shouted to magistrate Peter Reardon: "You call me a terrorist but I've never killed anyone in my life. You send troops to Iraq and Afghanistan to kill innocent people."

In Canberra the Defence Force announced a review of base security, despite its belief that present arrangements based on a layered system of physical protection and intelligence are adequate.

Further investigations have been launched into the leak that gave the Australian its scoop on the raids.

The newspaper has denied putting the operation at risk, saying that it had agreed after discussions with the federal police a week ago to hold publication until the day of the raids.

But Victorian Police Commissioner Simon Overland said he had proof that the story appeared in an edition bought by an officer at 1.30am, and that copies of it were delivered to the federal police headquarters at 2am. Overland said the story could have compromised the operation.