Suicide bomb attack foiled by Lebanon on Australia-Abu Dhabi flight: Minister
An Australian man was detained in Sydney, and the authorities said there was an Islamic State-inspired plot to bomb an Etihad Airways flight.
Lebanon foiled a plot by a suicide bomber to blow up a plane bound for the United Arab Emirates from Australia earlier this month, Lebanon’s interior minister said on Monday.
A Reuters report said Nohad Machnouk told Saudi-owned television station Al-Arabiya Al-Hadath that the bomber was Lebanese and had planned to blow up a plane bound for Abu Dhabi.
Earlier this month, an Australian man was detained in Sydney during raids to disrupt what authorities described as an Islamic State-inspired plot to bomb an Etihad Airways flight.
An AP report said Machnouk told reporters that four Lebanese-Australian brothers, including one who is in detention in Lebanon, had plotted to blow up the plane with a bomb hidden inside a large Barbie doll.
Australian authorities have said they thwarted a credible terrorist plot to down an airplane by smuggling a device onboard. They have provided few details, including the precise nature of the threat or any airlines involved.
Machnouk said two other brothers are held in Australia while the fourth is a senior member of the Islamic State group based in the northern Syrian city of Raqqa.