Australian police allege man planned New Year's Eve attack
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CANBERRA - Australian police have arrested a man accused of planning a mass shooting for New Year's Eve in a crowded Melbourne square, officials said Tuesday.
Ali Ali, a 20-year-old Australian-born citizen with Somali parents, was trying to obtain an automatic rifle to attack the downtown Federation Square in Australia's second-largest city, Victoria State Police Deputy Commissioner Shane Patton said.
Ali downloaded instructions from an al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula website on how to launch a terrorist attack and how to use guns, Patton said.
Patton described Ali as "a person who's expressed an intention to try and kill as many people as he could through shooting them."
He said authorities have eliminated the threat of the attack, saying "the risk that was posed by this person has been removed."
