Counter terrorism authorities today descended on Sydney's west after a shooting linked to the Iraqi election added to tensions heightened by the historic ballot. Witnesses said two men with guns aimed at a number of cars and shops, and fired five shots during a melee involving 100 people on the main street of Auburn, about 11pm (AEDT) yesterday. Police said four men, including one hurt by a ricocheting shotgun pellet, were treated for minor injuries. They said the shooting followed a clash on Saturday involving protesters from an anti-election group and voters outside a polling booth in Auburn - one of Australia's nine out-of-country polling stations for Iraq's first election in 50 years."People involved in the disturbance on Saturday, and last night's incident, have told us that the election has heightened tensions," Superintendent Harding said. "What concerns us is that these heightened tensions have escalated into violence, which is unacceptable. All the security organisations, including counter terrorist organisations, have been taking an active role in managing this." Ahmad Attabi, who voted in the election and had his shopfront blasted, said he thought the attackers were "terrorist people wanting to kill somebody". He said 30 men associated with the anti-election protest walked up Auburn Road and began fighting with men outside his tobacconist store. Mr Attabi, whose two brothers were murdered under Saddam Hussein's regime, said the election was the source of all the weekend's problems.
Iraqi community leader and voter Kamil Alhamid said yesterday's attackers comprised men from Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Lebanon, but not Iraqis. Mr Alhamid, the secretary of the Australian Ahl-Al-Bait Islamic Centre in Auburn, said the group were fundamentalists sympathetic to al-Qaeda and the terrorist group of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. He said the group's core had been meeting at a mosque a few blocks from his store for more than two years and had taken action in the past against Shiites by posting notices, but this was the first time they'd used guns. Mr Alhamid refused media access to any of the injured men for fear of reprisals.
It's nice to know I live so closely to these kind of people. If I had to guess, i'd say they might have something to do with the Ahlus ul Sunnah group, which is the most radical Islamist group I know of that operate in South West Sydney.