Australia declares attempted Perth protest bombing 'terror act'
Authorities have declared that an attempted bombing targeting a large protest in Western Australia’s capital in January was an act of terrorism, officials announced on Thursday.
Western Australia Premier Roger Cook said during a press conference that police determined the attempted attack was driven by racist and hateful ideology, News.Az reports, citing Xinhua.
He confirmed that the suspect has become the first person in the state’s history to be charged with committing a terrorist act.
The suspect, a 31-year-old man, was arrested shortly after a suspected homemade explosive device was thrown into a crowd of thousands gathered in central Perth on Jan. 26. The demonstration was led by Indigenous Australians and took place on Australia Day.
At the time of his arrest, the man was charged with one count of making or possessing explosives under suspicious circumstances, as well as one count of endangering the life, health and safety of others.
Premier Cook said that further investigations later concluded the incident met the legal threshold to be treated as a terrorist act. “We must condemn this incident in the strongest possible way,” he said, adding that the attack was motivated by racist and hateful beliefs.
Authorities previously stated that the device contained ball bearings, screws and an unknown liquid inside a glass container, and that it had been designed to explode upon impact.
Cook said on Thursday that the incident could have resulted in mass casualties had the device detonated as intended.
Western Australia Police Commissioner Col Blanch said authorities had no prior intelligence indicating that such an attack was being planned.
By Nijat Babayev
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