Australia 'foils suicide attack on army base'

Australian police arrested four people last night who were planning a suicide attack on a military base.

Police said members of a Melbourne-based group had 'been undertaking planning to carry out a terrorist attack in Australia' Photo: EPA

About 400 officers from state and national security services took part in at least 19 predawn raids on properties in the southern city of Melbourne, Victoria state police said in a statement.

Police said members of a Melbourne-based group had "been undertaking planning to carry out a terrorist attack in Australia."

The group was allegedly linked to hostilities in Somalia, the statement said without giving further details.

The Australian newspaper reported those detained were Islamic extremists who had planned to launch a suicide attack on an Australian Army base. Members of the Melbourne group allegedly travelled to Somalia in recent months to train with the extremist group al-Shabaab, and were allegedly planning to use automatic weapons to kill as many soldiers as possible, the newspaper reported, without providing sources for its information.

Police refused to confirm the report or release any further details, but said they would be holding a press conference later Tuesday.

The United States has designated al-Shabaab a foreign terrorist organisation. The US State Department's annual terrorism report in April said al-Shabaab was providing a safe haven to al-Qaida "elements" wanted for the 1998 bombings of the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.