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SYDNEY – An attacker who fatally stabbed a person and two other wounded in central Melbourne had also planned to trigger an explosion, said Australian police. Hassain Khalif Shire Ali, 30, saw his passport canceled in 2015 after he learned he was going to Syria, the police said.
The attack took place on Friday when Shire Ali got out of a van and burnt down and stabbed three men, one of whom died on the scene. The attack horrified hundreds of spectators at the afternoon rush hour in the second largest city of Australia.
Victoria State Police Commissioner, Graham Ashton, said that Shire Ali, shot dead by police and died at the hospital, had also developed an "unsophisticated" plan for his vehicle explodes and makes even more victims. He had placed several canisters of barbeque gas in the back of his pickup truck, the outlet valves being open, but they had not caught fire.
"Looks like he's been trying to light a fire in the car, we're thinking at this point in order to light those cans with some kind of explosion, but that's not it's not produced, "Ashton told reporters.
Ali Shire, who moved to Australia with his family in Somalia in the 1990s, was known to the police and the ASIO Federal Intelligence Authority. He had a criminal history related to cannabis use, theft and driving, Ashton said.
Deputy Commissioner of the Australian Federal Police, Ian McCartney, said Saturday at a press conference that it was thought that the attack had been inspired by the Islamic State 's. Iraq and Syria (ISIS), but that Shire Ali would have no direct link with the organization.
The first responders are working on the scene of the deadly bombing in Melbourne on November 9, 2018.
REUTERS
"It is fair to say that he was inspired, he was radicalized, with the rise of the caliphate and the propaganda spread on the Internet.We do not say that there was direct contact.We say that & # 39; 39, it was more of a source of inspiration perspective, "said McCartney.
McCartney said the incident was a "reality check" for security agencies that "even with the fall of the caliphate (ISIS) (…) the threat continues to be real."
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has declared that "radical, violent and extremist Islam" poses the greatest threat to Australia's national security.
"Here in Australia, we would make fun of ourselves if we did not report the fact that the biggest threat of religious extremism in this country is the radical and dangerous ideology of extremist Islam. ", did he declare.
Morrison said he had a long-standing relationship with the Muslim community and that it was they who shared his concerns about radicalism in recent years.
Shire Ali had family members and collaborators also known to the police. His brother Ali Khalif Shire Ali is currently on remand pending his trial next year for allegedly planning an attack, Ashton said.
ISIS claimed responsibility for Friday's attack but provided no evidence. This man was an ISIS fighter and had responded to the group's calls for attacks in member countries of the international coalition fighting militants in Syria and Iraq.
Police and civilians tried unsuccessfully to control Shire Ali before a police officer shot him in the chest, which, according to Ashton, did not graduate from the police academy than three months ago.
A 74-year-old man, stabbed in the face, died on the scene. Two other men, aged 26 and 58, are in the hospital with what the police describe as life-threatening injuries.
Ashton also said the police had searched two properties in Melbourne on Saturday as part of the attack, but that she did not believe the public was currently threatened. This is the second time in four years that Australia has witnessed militant violence.
In December 2014, a 17-hour siege during which an armed man took 18 people hostage In a Sydney café, two hostages died and the assailant was killed by the police. Although the erratic shooter asked the police to hand him a flag of the Islamic State at the beginning of the crisis, there was no evidence that he had made contact with the militant group. However, at a subsequent inquiry, the New South Wales coroner stated that the shooter's actions were "consistent with the accepted definition of terrorism".
Melbourne was also the scene of two deadly incidents that took place last year, but the police did not link them to terrorism.
Ashton said that there was no suggestion that Shire Ali had been inspired by James "Dimitrious" Gargasoulas, who appeared in court this week on six counts of murder during the first bombing, in January 2017.
