(Sydney Morning Herald) A 20-year-old man charged with planning a terror attack in the Sydney CBD proclaimed himself the “General Commander of Islamic State Australia” and created a stronghold in the Blue Mountains from which to conduct “guerilla-style” attacks, court documents allege.
“We are terrorists,” Greenacre man Isaak el Matari allegedly told other “persons of interest” in the six months before his arrest on Tuesday.
Mr el Matari also sent money offshore to import firearms, firearm parts and TNT (explosives) into Australia, the court documents allege, and operated a contingent of IS fighters for an alleged terrorist attack.
He also allegedly amassed “American army clothes” for the Blue Mountains stronghold and bought a ticket to Islamabad via China from a Flight Centre branch in Penrith.
