5 found guilty for plotting terrorist attack in Oz

Sydney, Oct 16: The Australian Supreme Court has held five Sydney men guilty for plotting a terrorist attack aimed at causing mass death and destruction with home-made bombs.

During their ten-month trial, the terrorists were accused of stockpiling weapons and chemicals for use in the pursuit of "violent jihad".

The jury was told that the men, aged 25 to 44, were against Australia's military presence in Iraq and Afghanistan, and in particular, former Prime Minister John Howard's support for then US President George Bush.

News.com quoted prosecutor Richard Maidment, as saying that the men wanted to wage violent jihad in Australia involving "extreme force and violence including the killing of those who did not share their fundamentalist, extremist beliefs."

Police had seized volumes of Jihadist literature, videos, CDs in their homes.

Instructions for building bombs were also found, along with receipts for mobile phones, which were used to place bulk orders for chemicals such as acetone, hydrogen peroxide and sulphuric acid.

According to the prosecutor, some of these men received paramilitary training to carry out their violent acts in rural NSW.

One of them, also allegedly trained at a Lashkar e Toiba camp in Pakistan in 2001. The men will be sentenced on Dec 14.

ANI