Australian counter-terror police make three arrests in Sydney

Australian counter-terror police said they arrested three men during raids in suburban Sydney on Tuesday as part of an investigation into domestic Islamic State sympathisers. The men, aged 20, 23 and 30 are expected to be charged with crimes later in the day, New South Wales police said in a statement which gave no further details, pending a news conference at 2 p.m. local time (0400 GMT).

The so-called Islamic State caliphate was established in 2014 and although it has been driven in the past year from all territory it once held in Syria and Iraq, authorities say it remains a threat as an underground movement. Australia, a staunch U.S. ally, has been on heightened alert for attacks by home-grown radicals since 2014 and authorities say they have thwarted a number of plots.

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