Terror in Sydney’s Backyard

The New Paper

19 September 2014

Two of his recruits had posed for pictures with severed heads in Syria and Iraq.

But Australian Mohammad Ali Baryalei, 33, wanted to shock his countrymen even more.

On Tuesday, he made a chilling phone call — most likely from Syria where he is believed to be based — to a 22-year-old in Sydney.

He told Omarjan Azari to kidnap a stranger in Sydney’s Central Business District, drag him on to the streets and then behead him before shocked passers-by. Omarjan was to film it and upload the video online.

…Singapore-based terror analyst Rohan Gunaratna told The New Paper that such a level of fanaticism should not be surprising, given ISIS’ preference for “shock tactics” as a way to assert control.

“ISIS uses brutality and violence with the intention of intimidating and numbing the masses,” added Dr Gunaratna of Singapore’s International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research.

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