Melbourne Terror Attack Kills 2, Injures 3 Police...And It's a 'Known Wolf'

Stop me if you’ve heard this one, PJ Media readers. There was a terror attack in Melbourne, Australia, and the suspect was already known to authorities.

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Yep, another “Known Wolf.”

The attack occurred yesterday morning when Yacqub Khayre took a hostage in an apparent attempt to lure police into his position.

Khayre had previously been charged and acquitted in a suicide bombing terror plot, and later arrested for a home invasion. It appears he was out on parole at the time of yesterday’s attack, only having served three years of a five-year sentence.

The Associated Press reported:

A gunman who killed a man and took a woman hostage before dying in a police shootout had been acquitted of plotting a terror attack at a Sydney army base years earlier, police said Tuesday. Three police officers were wounded.

The siege Monday at an apartment building in a Melbourne suburb was being treated as an act of terror, but Victoria state Police Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton said the gunman appeared to have acted alone and not as part of any ongoing plot or threat.

“There is nothing that we’ve found thus far that would suggest to us that this was anything that was … planned or done in concert with others,” Ashton said.

The gunman, Yacqub Khayre, 29, was one of two men acquitted by a jury in 2010 of plotting a suicide attack in Sydney. Three people were convicted of conspiracy for that plot, which police thwarted before it could be executed.

Khayre, a Somali refugee, served prison sentences for arson and violent crimes unrelated to extremism before being paroled in November, Ashton said.

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Despite his role in a previous terror plot, authorities had deemed him “low risk.”

ISIS later claimed credit for the attack:

Initially, authorities were dismissive of the claim.

But Prime Minister Trumbull has declared the incident a terror attack:

The Associated Press reported further:

Khayre spoke about al-Qaida in phone calls to police and to Seven Network television, and Ashton said the gunman possibly had plotted to lure police into an ambush. But it was too early to know if the gunman set out to target police or “seized the opportunity he thought was presented to him last evening,” Ashton said.

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No doubt they’ll search endlessly for a motive.

This seems to be a great question to ask following this incident:

Just this weekend I was noting that one of the London attackers was already known to UK authorities.

This has become the rule, not the exception, in virtually all of these terror attacks targeting Western countries.

Nor is this the first time that two “Known Wolf” attacks have occurred so close together.

The phenomenon has become ubiquitous, and yet virtually no action has been taken on the part of any government.

After the Manchester attack last month, MI5 decided it would investigate itself.

The New York Post recently noted that 12 of the 14 Islamic terror attacks during Obama’s presidency were by “Known Wolf” terrorists.

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Until there is an acknowledgement that this problem is real, the attacks by “Known Wolf” suspects will inevitably continue.

When a system is failing, repeating the same mistakes is bound to produce the same results. And in this case, that means more dead citizens on the watch of our law enforcement and intelligence agencies.

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Below, find Poole’s prior coverage of the “Known Wolf” scandal:

Oct. 24, 2014: ‘Lone Wolf’ or ‘Known Wolf’: The Ongoing Counter-Terrorism Failure

Dec. 15, 2014: Sydney Hostage Taker Another Case of ‘Known Wolf’ Syndrome

Jan. 7, 2015: Paris Terror Attack Yet Another Case of ‘Known Wolf’ Syndrome

Feb. 3, 2015: French Police Terror Attacker Yesterday Another Case of ‘Known Wolf’ Syndrome

Feb. 15, 2015: Copenhagen Killer Was yet Another Case of ‘Known Wolf’ Terrorism

Feb. 26, 2015: Islamic State Beheader ‘Jihadi John’ Yet Another Case of ‘Known Wolf’ Terrorism

Apr. 22, 2015: Botched Attack on Paris Churches Another Case of “Known Wolf” Terrorism

May 4, 2015: Texas Attack Is Yet Another Case of ‘Known Wolf’ Terrorism

June 26, 2015: France’s Beheading Terrorist Was Well-Known By Authorities

July 16, 2015: Report: Chattanooga Jihadist Was Yet Another ‘Known Wolf’ Terrorist, Anonymous Feds Dispute

Aug. 22, 2015: European Train Attacker Another Case of ‘Known Wolf’ Terrorism

Oct 14, 2015: Yet Again: Turkey, Israel Terror Attacks Committed by “Known Wolves”

Nov 14, 2015: One Paris Attacker Was Previously Known to Authorities, Marks Fifth “Known Wolf” Attack in France This Year

Feb 16, 2016: Machete Attack in Ohio Yet Another Case of “Known Wolf” Terrorism

May 16, 2016: News Reports Yet Another Case of “Known Wolf” U.S. Terrorists

June 12, 2016: Orlando Night Club Attack by “Known Wolf” Terrorist Previously Investigated by FBI

July 14, 2016: Senate Intelligence Committee to Investigate “Known Wolf” Terrorism Problem

July 26, 2016: ISIS Suspect in Normandy Priest’s Killing Already Known to French Authorities

August 10, 2016: Canadian ‘Known Wolf’ Terrorist Planned Suicide Bombing of Major City, Killed in Overnight Police Operation

August 19, 2016: Man Who Stabbed Rabbi Thursday in Strasbourg, France Involved in Prior Attack

Sept. 20, 2016: NY-NJ Bomber Ahmad Khan Rahami Already Known to Law Enforcement Authorities

Sept. 28, 2016: “Known Wolf” SCANDAL: In at Least 12 of the 14 Terror Attacks Under Obama, FBI Already Knew Attackers

Dec. 21, 2016: Suspect Sought for Deadly Berlin Terror Attack, Anis Amri, Yet Another Known Wolf

March 23, 2017: Five Days and Two ‘Known Wolf’ Terror Attacks, Yet No Apparent Concern From Western Governments

March 26, 2017: “60 Minutes” Whitewashes Massive FBI Failure in 2015 ISIS Texas Terror Attack

May 23, 2017: Manchester Bomber Is Yet Another “Known Wolf”

June 4, 2017: At Least One London Bridge Terrorist was a “Known Wolf” — Just Like Manchester, Winchester, Etc.

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