Australian officials say they foiled ‘imminent’ terrorist attack

Australian authorities say they foiled an “imminent” terrorist attack in the city of Melbourne on Friday, according to The New York Times.

In a press conference, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Andrew Colvin, commissioner of the country’s federal police, said that law enforcement had arrested five men in overnight raids who had been inspired by the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) to carry out attacks in the city.

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“This is a significant disruption of what we would call an imminent terrorist event,” Colvin said.

“They had moved very quickly from an intention to a capability, a developed capability, including quite progressed plans, we will allege,” he added.

Four of the men were Australian, while the fifth was born in Egypt.

“We believe they were self-radicalized. They’ve been inspired by Daesh or ISIL, that’s our intelligence at the present time,” Turnbull said, using other names for ISIS.

The authorities said the men were scouting locations to attack that included Federation Square, a shopping and entertainment district; a train station; and an Anglican church, St. Paul’s Cathedral.