ABU BAKR - Algerian Cleric and Bin Laden Supporter

Police in Australia claim to have foiled a major terrorist attack after they arrested 16 people on Tuesday in raids across Sydney and Melbourne.

Nine people appeared in court in Melbourne, including Abu Bakr, an outspoken Algerian-Australian cleric who has praised Osama Bin Laden.

In addition to the 16 people arrested, one man was in critical condition in hospital in Sydney with a gunshot wound in the neck, after he allegedly opened fire on police.

Prosecutor Richard Maidment told the Melbourne court that the nine men had formed a terrorist group to kill "innocent men and women in Australia".

He said they received military-style training in rural Australia and had discussions about bomb-making.

Prosecutor Mr Maidment said that members of the Sydney group "have been gathering chemicals of a kind that were used in the London Underground bombings".

Mr Maidment said that Abu Bakr was the leader of both the Melbourne and Sydney groups.

Supporters of the arrested men clashed with news cameramen outside the courts in Melbourne and Sydney.

Police raided 23 houses in Sydney and Melbourne early on Tuesday, as part of the country's largest counter-terrorism operation.

The raids involved about 500 police officers and followed a 16-month investigation, officials said. Chemicals, weapons, and computers were seized, police said.

"I'm satisfied that we have disrupted what I would regard as the final stages of a large-scale terrorist attack, or the launch of a terrorist attack," Mr Moroney told Australia's ABC radio.

Police declined to give details of the likely target of the attack, but Victoria state police chief Christine Nixon specifically ruled out next year's Commonwealth Games, to be held in Melbourne.

But the authorities have said in recent months that suspects had carried out surveillance on the Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge, railway stations and the Melbourne stock exchange.
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