Suspected Sydney plane bomb plot ringleader and Australian IS terrorist captured in Iraq

Updated

An Islamic State (IS) commander suspected of hatching a plan to blow up a flight from Sydney last year and an Australian IS fighter allegedly connected to the country's most notorious terror cell have been captured in Iraq. Key points: One of those captured in Iraq, Tarek Khayat, alleged to have instigated plot to smuggle bomb contained in meat grinder on Etihad flight departing Sydney

Police allege Ahmed Merhi was in direct contact with homegrown IS cell behind several Sydney terror plots, including fatal shooting of Curtis Cheng

Merhi first alleged Australian IS terrorist known to have been captured in Iraq

Senior Australian officials have told the ABC that Islamic State commander Tarek Khayat and his Australian relative, Ahmed Merhi, were detained in Iraq earlier this year, but their arrests have been shrouded in secrecy because of diplomatic sensitivities surrounding the cases. The two men kept in close contact with some of Australia's most notorious terrorism suspects from their positions in Syria, but appear to have shifted to Iraq when IS was routed from its territory in both countries last year. Australian police also allege Khayat directed his Sydney-based brothers, Khaled and Mahmoud Khayat, to blow up an Etihad Airways flight from Sydney to Dubai on July 15 last year with around 400 passengers and crew on board.
Officials announce the arrests in Iraq of two men suspected of plotting terror attacks for Islamic State in Australia.