Melbourne stabbing attacker 'inspired' by ISIS: Govt

A Somali-origin man, who set a car on fire and stabbed three people, killing one of them, before being fatally shot in the Australian city of Melbourne, did not have a "definite link" to the dreaded Islamic State but was "inspired" by it, the government said on Sunday.

Hassan Khalif Shire Ali stabbed three members of the public and attacked police officers in the Bourke Street on Friday before he was shot and killed by the police.

The 31-year-old, who was driving a Ute, loaded with gas bottles, into the Bourke Street, allegedly set it alight and began stabbing members of the public.

 

Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton said authorities did not believe Ali, who had his passport cancelled in 2015, was a member of the Islamic State and had not been known to be ready to act, The Australian reported.

"There was no evidence available to the police... that any attack was imminent or that he had been part of planning," he was quoted as saying by the report.

"In relation to his connections with ISIL (another name for IS) or with any terrorist group... there's not, as I'm advised, a membership of an organisation or a definite link to ISIL."

However, the terror group's propaganda outlet, Amaq, earlier said "The perpetrator of the operation... in Melbourne... was an Islamic State fighter and carried out the operation... to target nationals of the coalition" fighting the Islamic State.

"The working theory is at the moment a case where this person has been downloading information or receiving messages in his own mind about what he should be doing," Dutton said.

There was "no evidence" available to intelligence services that the terrorist behind the Bourke Street stabbings was preparing an imminent attack, Dutton added.

Acting Deputy Commissioner for national security Ian McCartney said that, "It's fair to say he was inspired."

Shire Ali's passport was cancelled in 2015 when the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation believed he was planning to travel to Syria, McCartney said.

More than a dozen terrorist attacks have been prevented in recent years in Australia, but several have taken place, including a cafe siege in Sydney in 2014 where several people, including an Indian techie, were taken hostages and two were killed.