Major terror plot in Melbourne broken up.

Australian police during raids on the suspects. BBC/EPA.

A major terror plot in Melbourne, Australia, has been broken up by police. BBC. The three suspects were of Turkish descent and were trying to acquire a .22 rifle for a mass shooting. The men were allegedly inspired by ISIS to commit the attack which would have targeted a large gathering of people. The attackers had not settled on a final location for the attack but officials felt they had to move fast to prevent them from carrying out their plot. The plot occurred just weeks after a man in Melbourne killed one person and stabbed two more before being shot by the police. 

My Comment:

Another major terror plot in Australia. They have had quite a few lately as well as the successful attack in Melbourne earlier this month. It has been slightly odd, as I haven't heard too much about plots outside of Australia. Perhaps the plots there have made the news but other ones have not? 

The attackers choice of weapon is fairly dumb. Though you can certainly kill people with a .22 rifle, especially in a country like Australia where nobody is armed, it's not the best choice for this kind of crime. A heavier caliber would do a lot more damage. Or they could have gone with a shotgun which would have been fairly easy to obtain and would be an effective weapon. 

One wonders why they wanted to use a gun at all. Trying to obtain one in Australia is a bad move. The underground black market isn't likely to sell to Turkish terrorists and it's a great way to get the attention of the police. Getting a gun in Australia isn't that hard but it's not like Europe where despite draconian gun laws it's very easy to get full auto AK's. 

You would think that they would have tried what the last attacker semi successfully pulled off. A car ramming/arson/mass stabbing probably would have been a lot easier to pull off. Doing so would not attract attention at all and could be attempted with things the attackers already had. Thankfully, they went for a more complex plot that was doomed to failure. 

This attack was apparently inspired by ISIS but I doubt the terror organization did anything to help the plot. They no longer have the resources or connections to help these kinds of terrorists pull off their plots. They can offer propaganda to encourage them but that's about it. They are a shadow of their former selves as they have lost almost all of their tax base and possessions.