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Australian Authorities Say They Have Stopped ISIS Plot

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Australian police are saying they have interrupted a plot by Australian followers of the militant group known as the Islamic State, or ISIS, to behead an Australian citizen.

About 800 police officers raided more than a dozen locations around Sydney today and have detained 15 people, making it the largest counterterrorism raid in Australia's history.

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott told reporters that the police raids came in response to intelligence reports that an ISIS leader in the Middle East was calling on Australian supporters of the organization to kill civilians.

Attorney General George Brandis told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation that if police had not acted in arresting individuals, the killing would have happened.

Sydney-based reporter Stuart Cohen joins Here & Now's Robin Young for the latest on the story.

Guest

  • Stuart Cohen, freelance reporter based in Sydney.

This segment aired on September 18, 2014.

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