Australia said Friday it is upgrading security at parliament in the face of threats from extremists who are also targeting the prime minister and other leaders, after revelations Islamic State militants were plotting “demonstration executions” in the country.
Asked about intelligence that he and other senior officials may be attacked, Prime Minister Tony Abbott said: “There is chatter, there has been chatter, amongst these networks of targeting government people.”
“There is no doubt about that. That is why we are in the process of upgrading security at Parliament House in Canberra.”
Federal police are being put in charge of security at parliament, Abbott told Nine Network television after earlier describing the building in the nation’s capital Canberra as “a potential target”.
“There has been chatter amongst these terrorist support networks for some time about possible attacks on government here in Australia,” he said.
Previously security was handled by in-house parliamentary security officers.
Abbott’s comments came after hundreds of police officers staged a major pre-dawn operation across Sydney and Brisbane on Thursday.
Of the 15 people detained in the raids, one has been charged with terrorism-related offences and nine released, police said. At least one gun was seized, along with a sword.
Omarjan Azari, 22, was remanded in custody, charged with planning a terrorist act that prosecutors alleged was designed to “shock, horrify and terrify” the community.
The prosecution alleged the plan involved the “random selection of persons to rather gruesomely execute” on camera.
The video was reportedly then to be sent back to IS’s media unit in the Middle East, where it would be released to the public.
