Australian police say an attacker, who stabbed a man to death in a busy street in Melbourne, was “inspired” by Daesh but had no direct links to the Takfiri terrorist group.
The man, identified by police as Somali-born Hassan Khalif Shire Ali, 30, stabbed three bystanders — one fatally—in central Melbourne on Friday.
He attacked bystanders after his utility car, laden with gas cylinders, crashed into shop fronts just before the evening rush hour on busy Bourke Street. The cylinders, however, did not explode and the fire was put out in 10 minutes.
Authorities said Shire Ali had made an “unsophisticated” plan for his vehicle to explode to cause many more fatalities.
The attacker was shot after confronting police officers and later died in hospital, authorities said.
Police said his Australian passport was cancelled in 2015 after an intelligence report he planned to travel to Syria.
“I think it is fair to say he (Shire Ali) was inspired. He was radicalized,” Australian Federal Police Acting Deputy Commissioner Ian McCartney told reporters on Saturday.
“We’re not saying there was direct contact. We’re saying it was more from an inspiration perspective,” he said, though Daesh claimed responsibility for the attack.
Police also said they were “not looking for anyone further at this early stage.”
“We don’t believe there is an ongoing threat at this stage, but certainly we are treating it as a terrorism incident,” said Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton.
Melbourne, no stranger to such incidents, saw two fatal car-ramming incidents last year, but neither was linked to terrorism.
A man is currently on trial for a January 2017 attack on the same street which left six people dead and dozens wounded. The attacker, James Gargasoulas, is accused of deliberately ramming his car into pedestrians on Bourke Street.