5 Australian Muslims charged with planning attack on army

SYDNEY - Five militant Australian Islamists planned to arm themselves with automatic weapons and kill as many soldiers as they could in a suicide attack at a Sydney army barracks, a court in Melbourne was told Monday.

At the start of their trial, Melbourne men Saney Aweys, 27, Yacqub Khayre, 23, Abdirahman Ahmed, 26, Wissam Fattal, 34, and Nayef El Sayed, 26, pleaded not guilty to conspiring to do acts in preparation for a terrorist act.

Police allege the five, who are Australian citizens of either Somali or Lebanese descent, had sought the blessing of a Muslim leader for their plan to burst into the base and open fire.

One of the accused is alleged to have travelled to Africa seeking a fatwa, or religious ruling, to justify their attack.

During a committal hearing earlier this year, the court heard the men had links to the Somali-based terrorist group al-Shabaab.

On that occasion, Fattal shouted out: “You send troops to Iraq to kill innocent people. You call me a terrorist. I’ve never killed a person in my life.”

He was admonished for lack of respect to the court for his refusal to stand when the charges were read out during the committal hearing.