An Australian court has convicted three men of plotting a suicide attack on an army base in Sydney last year.
The three men were among five Australian citizens of Somali or Lebanese descent charged by prosecutors with plotting a terrorist attack to avenge Australia's involvement in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The court in the southeastern city of Melbourne found the other two men not guilty and set them free.
Australian authorities accused the five of seeking the blessing of Islamic clerics in Somalia for a plot to burst into Sydney's Holsworthy Barracks and open fire with automatic weapons until they were killed. The men also were accused of having links to Somalia-based militant group al-Shabab, which has ties to al-Qaida.
Authorities arrested the five in Melbourne in 2009 and put them on trial in September this year.
The three convicted men include 34-year old Wissam Mahmoud Fattal, 27-year old Saney Edow Aweys and 26-year old Nayef El Sayed.
Some information for this report was provided by AP and AFP.
