Australian police revealed Friday that police and a prayer hall were among potential targets for attack uncovered by police investigating two alleged terrorists seized in Sydney with an Islamic State flag this week, while Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott came under fire Friday over controversial comments on the arrest of the suspects and for referring to a "holocaust" of job losses, capping a horror week. Officers said Wednesday they had thwarted an imminent terror attack which was "consistent with the messaging coming out of IS" when they arrested Omar Al-Kutobi and Mohammad Kiad in a raid in western Sydney. Counter-terrorism investigators have since been dispatched overseas, Australian Federal Police and their New South Wales counterparts said Friday, without detailing where they have been sent. "As a consequence of those ongoing investigations, further information obtained has indicated a number of targets on Australian soil," they said. "Those investigations have verified information that there were threats to police and also a prayer hall in Sydney." Police said there was no specified threat to a police facility or officer while counter-terrorism officers confirmed the proposed threat to the prayer hall had been abandoned. Al-Kutobi and Kiad, arrested in a raid by the Joint Counter Terrorism Taskforce after a tip-off, have been charged with making preparations for a terrorist act. An Islamic State flag, a machete, a hunting knife and an Arabic-language video detailing the apparent plot were also seized in the raid, police said. Prime Minister Tony Abbott told parliament this week that the video allegedly showed one suspect kneeling in front of an IS flag, with a knife and machete, threatening to undertake violent acts. "He went on to say... 'I swear to almighty Allah, blonde people, there is no room for blame between you and us. We only are you, stabbing the kidneys and striking the necks'," Abbott said. In September, Australia raised its terror threat level and carried out extensive raids in Sydney and Brisbane to disrupt an alleged plot by IS supporters to abduct and behead a random member of the public. Three months later a self-styled Muslim cleric, Man Haron Monis, took 17 people hostage for some 16 hours at a cafe in Sydney. The stand-off ended after he shot dead cafe manager Tori Johnson, prompting police to storm the building and kill him. Another hostage died from a stray police bullet, or bullet fragments. Meanwhile, Abbott began the first parliamentary week of the year fighting for his job after poor poll ratings, a series of policy backflips and perceived high-handed decision making saw MPs from his conservative Liberal Party force a confidence vote. He survived the "spill" motion on Monday and promised "good government" from that point on with the 39 of the 102 Liberal parliamentarians who tried to oust him grudgingly agreeing to give the unpopular leader a second chance. But he has stumbled since, handing his detractors more ammunition. On Friday, he was forced to defend himself after revealing in parliament a day earlier the contents of a video allegedly made by two men charged with terrorism offences. Lawyers said the detail and his remark that it was "monstrous extremism", made under parliamentary privilege, could prejudice a future trial of the suspects. "What could happen is that the court could find it impossible to have a jury empanelled who was not affected by the comments," New South Wales Bar Association president Jane Needham said. Abbott was also criticised for labelling job losses under the Labor opposition a "holocaust" as he faced questions over the government's economic plans. He later apologised and withdrew the remark after Labor frontbencher Mark Dreyfus said: "Comments like this should have no place in Australian political debate and should never have been made in the first place." In a trying week, Abbott has also had to deal with a damning report into asylum-seeker children in detention and fend off questions over the government's economic credentials after the unemployment rate in January rose to a near 13-year high of 6.4 percent. Australian newspapers had little sympathy. "The days since Monday's vote have shown Abbott still has a talent for accidental injuries," wrote David Crowe, political correspondent for conservative-leaning broadsheet The Australian. "Abbott's message is that he has listened, learned and changed. But he has given his MPs nothing to feed their hopes." Fairfax Media's chief political correspondent Mark Kenny had a similar take. "Only a minority of his colleagues believe he can recover to win (the election) in 2016," he said.
