Islamic extremist shot dead, two police officers stabbed outside Endeavour Hills police station in Victoria —The Daily Telegraph (24/9/2014)
PM Tony Abbott today said the "nasty incident" in which a known Islamic fanatic was shot dead after stabbing two police officers showed some Australians were capable of "very extreme acts" and would do their countrymen harm.
Mr Abbott was briefed in Hawaii while travelling to New York to attend United Nations meetings dealing with the rising threat of IS.
"The suspect did mount a fierce attack on both officers," he said in a statement issued from the US. "Obviously, this indicates that there are people in our community who are capable of very extreme acts. It also indicates that the police will be constantly vigilant to protect us against people who would do us harm."
More details began to emerge of the terrifying incident in which a Victorian policeman and an AFP federal agent were stabbed moments before the shooting outside the Endeavour Hills police station in Melbourne's southeast at 7.40pm.
The dead teenager was today named as Numan Haider, who recently posted on facebook about "dogs" declaring war on Islam. Haider, from Narre Warren, was a "known terror suspect" and past member of radical Islamic group Al Furqan. The 18-year-old Afghan had voluntarily gone to Endeavour Hills station to meet counter terrorism officers from Victoria Police and the Australian Federal Police.
Witnesses said he made verbal threats against Prime Minister Tony Abbott then stabbed both officers.
Police said they had "no choice" but to shoot dead the teenager after he stabbed the two officers outside the police station.
The Joint Counter Terrorism Taskforce had been monitoring the teenager for a number of months, Victoria Police chief commissioner Ken Lay said today. Mr Lay said the suspect
"had one thing on his mind and that was to do the most amount of harm to these people (police officers) that he could".
Justice Minister Michael Keenan said the man was a known terror suspect.
"The person in question was a known terror suspect who was a person of interest to law enforcement and intelligence agencies," Mr Keenan said.
The man met a Victorian police officer and an AFP agent outside the station in Melbourne's southeast about 7.45pm. He greeted the two officers with a handshake before attacking them, police say. He stabbed the AFP officer a number of times before twice stabbing the Victorian officer in the forearm, Victoria Police Assistant Commissioner Luke Cornelius said.
Mr Cornelius said the Victorian officer fired a single shot that killed the man.
Police had arranged to meet the man, who had reportedly been seen with an Islamic State flag at the Dandenong shopping centre, because of concerns about his behaviour. Senior intelligence sources confirmed that the terror suspect had been among a number of people whose passports were recently cancelled.
Senior intelligence sources confirmed the attacker had made threats against the PM moments before a local police officer drew his gun and shot him dead. The PM first learned of the incident just before he boarded a flight to New York at 8.30pm. It is believed he was kept informed of the unfolding event by phone while he was in the air.
Reports also emerged that the man, whose name has not been released, was brandishing an IS flag — and was known to have previously proudly waved the death cult flag at a nearby shopping centre.
The two officers were taken to hospital in a stable condition. The AFP officer was left with life-threatening injuries and remains at Alfred Hospital in a critical but stable condition overnight.
The shooting, which came only a day after IS issued a global fatwa calling on followers to "kill Australians" using whatever means possible, including knives, guns or poison, was in the electorate of federal MP Anthony Byrne.
Mr Byrne, the member of Holt and chair of the Statutory Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security was shocked by the shooting. "My main concern is for the welfare of the officers involved," he told The Daily Telegraph last night. The bomb squad robot was sent into Endeavour Hills police station car park to clear the area.
It's believed the man had stabbed the officers before he was shot dead as he made a dash towards the police station.
Service station attendant Shafi Miya, who was working across the road when the incident unfolded, said he heard a loud shot before police cars and an ambulance descended on the scene shortly after. The witness said the incident was "pretty scary". It is therefore likely Victoria Police's Professional Standards Command will investigate if one of the force's members was involved in the fatal shooting.
An Ambulance Victoria spokeswoman confirmed its paramedics attended the scene at 7.40pm but would not provide further details.
The man was under surveillance for having allegedly made threats against the PM.
Bills giving authorities greater powers to deal with terrorism will be introduced into federal parliament next week, Justice Minister Michael Keenan says. The proposed laws follow police anti-terrorism raids in Sydney and Brisbane on Thursday.
Although providing only vague details, Mr Keenan said the mooted laws would "modernise" existing anti-terror legislation. He shied away from saying whether the proposed laws would allow police greater powers to detain suspects on terror charges.
"The threat of the random act of violence that was acted upon on Thursday's raids is obviously quite different to the sorts of traditional terrorist activity that we might have been targeting," he told the ABC on Saturday morning. "We need to make sure that we've got a regime in Australia that's modern and flexible."