A top counter-terrorism officer has stated that a major terror attack in Australia is ‘inevitable’.
NSW Assistant Commissioner Mark Murdoch warned that it is not a question of if but when Australia will be struck, claiming ‘it will happen’.
‘I don’t like to say it but it will happen. It’s inevitable,’ the respected officer told The Daily Telegraph.
Top counter-terrorism officer Mark Murdoch (pictured) has stated that a major terror attack in Australia is ‘inevitable’
With Australia’s threat level currently at ‘probable’, Mr Murdoch added that the greatest risk lies in lonewolf attacks or groups the government do not know about.
‘Despite everything that is being done and the good work that law enforcement and intelligence is doing, without wanting to create unnecessary fear within the community, it’s going to happen,’ he said.
Mr Murdoch added that the profile’s of a terrorist were ever-changing, with intelligence needing to remain open minded as ‘anything can happen at anytime’.
It comes just months after brothers Khaled, 49, and Mahmoud Khayet, 32, were charged over an alleged plan to blow up an Etihad flight from Sydney.
With Australia’s threat level currently at ‘probable’, Mr Murdoch (pictured) said that the greatest risk lies in lonewolf attacks or groups the government do not know about
It comes just months after brothers Khaled, 49, and Mahmoud Khayet, 32, were charged over an alleged plan to blow up an Etihad flight from Sydney, with police pictured searching homes across Sydney
They had allegedly planned to smuggle a bomb concealed inside a meat grinder onto flight EY451 to Abu Dhabi, but it was never checked onto the plane because it was too heavy.
Police arrested four people during raids on July 29 in relation to the case, later charging the brothers with two counts of planning a terrorist attack.
Australia also fell victim to a terrorist siege in 2014, after hostages were taken by gunman Man Haron Monis at the Lindt Cafe in Sydney.
Cafe manager Tori Johnson and mother-of-three Katrina Dawson were killed during the attack.
Police arrested four people during raids on July 29 in relation to the case, after a bomb concealed inside a meat grinder was allegedly tried to be taken onto a flight to Abu Dhabi
Australia also fell victim to a terrorist siege in 2014, after hostages were taken by gunman Man Haron Monis at the Lindt Cafe in Sydney
And while Mr Murdoch said they had put away a ‘number of people,’ the threat of an attack keeps him awake at night.
His comments come just a day after another veteran national security expert said mass terrorist attacks could be imminent on Australian public transport.
Peter Jennings stated explosives, similar to the crude bucket bomb that was placed on a commuter train in London last week, could easily be made in peoples kitchens.
‘The risk of this type of attack on mass transit or in places of mass gatherings is something we’ve got to be really alive to,’ he told Sky News Australia on Monday.