Two brothers, members of the terrorist Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), have been detained by Australian police as they were trying to blow up an Etihad plane using explosives sent from Turkey by an ISIL commander, Deutsche Welle reported on Friday.
The bomb, which was found in the baggage of a passenger, was made using military grade explosives sent by ISIL from Turkey via an international air cargo flight.
According to the Australian police, the planned attack against a July 15 flight from Sydney to Abu Dhabi is “one of the most sophisticated plots that has ever been attempted on Australian soil.”
The brothers were also accused of planning a second attack in a “crowded closed space” using toxic chemicals. Michael Phelan, the deputy commissioner of the Australian Federal Police, said ISIL militants in Sydney received suggestions from ISIL members in Syria as to where to carry out the attack.
“We have completely disrupted this plot so now not only have we stopped the [improvised explosive device] that we believed to go on the plane but we have also completely disrupted the intended chemical dispersion device and we believe we have got all the necessary components of that device as well,” said Phelan.
The two suspects will appear in court in Sydney on Friday on charges of planning a terrorist attack.
