MELBOURNE -- Australian police arrested four men who they allege were planning a suicide attack on an Australian military base.
View Full Image Reuters Police tape is seen at the perimeter near a house in the suburb of Glenroy in Melbourne, which was raided in connection to planned terror attacks August 4, 2009.
Police said that the arrested men are all Australian citizens with some being of Somali descent and others Lebanese, and that members of the group have supported the Islamic insurgency in Somalia. The men were planning to use automatic weapons in the attack, police said.
The arrests will renew concerns that Australia has put itself in a position where it faces terrorist threats given its strong support for the war on terror. The country has sent troops to wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and Australians have been the target of bombings in other countries including in Bali in 2002 and outside Australia's embassy in Jakarta in 2004.
Former Prime Minister John Howard often reminded Australians of the threats they faced but those worries diminished somewhat when Prime Minister Kevin Rudd was elected in late 2007 given his commitment to withdraw troops from Iraq, a process completed this year.
Mr. Rudd said the group was alleged to be affiliated with the al Shabaab terrorist group in Somalia, which is believed to be linked to al Qaeda, and that some of its members allegedly traveled to Somalia to take part in hostilities there. He said Tuesday that the arrests are "a sober reminder that the threat of terrorism to Australia continues."
Victoria Police Commissioner Simon Overland said police will allege the men planned to attack the Holsworthy Barracks on Sydney's south western fringe, and had carried out reconnaissance on other military installations. "Details of the planning indicated the alleged offenders were prepared to inflict a sustained attack on military personnel until they themselves were killed," said Australian Federal Police Acting Commissioner Tony Negus.
About 400 officers from the Australian Federal Police, Victoria Police and New South Wales Police launched raids at homes in Melbourne early Tuesday, executing 19 search warrants across the city at 4.30 a.m. local time.
One of the arrested men, 25-year-old Nayef El Sayed of Glenroy, appeared in the Melbourne Magistrates' Court Tuesday charged with preparing for or planning a terrorist act. He did not apply for bail and was remanded in custody until his next court date, a committal mention set down for Oct. 26.
Police said more people are "assisting with inquiries" and they are not ruling out further arrests.
The men are to be charged under Australian anti-terror laws enacted in 2005, which have already been used to jail six Melbourne men in 2008.
The arrests followed a seven-month investigation, dubbed Operation Neath, involving the Australian Federal Police, other police forces, the New South Wales Crime Commission and the Australian Security Intelligence Organization.
National security alert levels remain at medium, where they have been since introduction in 2003, indicating a terror attack remains feasible.
—Iain McDonald contributed to this article.
Write to Alex Wilson at alex.wilson@dowjones.net and Lyndal McFarland at lyndal.mcfarland@dowjones.com
Printed in The Wall Street Journal, page A9
Melbourne CBD
Australian Federal Police have caught four people suspected of plotting a terrorist attack in Melbourne. The suspects, all Australian citizens of Somali and Lebanese descent, were arrested early this morning Melbourne time.

"Police believe members of a Melbourne-based group have been undertaking planning to carry out a terrorist attack in Australia and allegedly involved in hostilities in Somalia," a police statement says.

"The men's intention was to actually go into the Army barracks and to kill as many soldiers as they could before they themselves were killed," acting Australian Federal Police deputy commissioner  Tony Negus told a press conference. "This operation has disrupted an alleged terrorist attack that could have claimed many lives."

The raids were carried out by officers from Australian Security Intelligence Organisation, Australian Federal Police, Victoria Police, New South Wales Police and the New South Wales Crime Commission.