Australia: Muslim migrant stabs three shoppers, killing one, after he mounts the pavement, sets fire to his car and slashes at officers

His brother was arrested in 2017 for attempting a terror attack in Federation Square on New Years Eve.

Muslim terrorist trying to kill an Australian Police Officer a few minutes ago in Melbourne after blowing up his own car. pic.twitter.com/HMKN2vHuvc

Burke street terror footage

ISIS CLAIM MELBOURNE ATTACK

Somali-born terrorist who stabbed three shoppers, killing one, is named after being shot dead by police – as ISIS claim the lone wolf as one of their own and it’s revealed his brother was arrested over a failed terror attack in Melbourne last year

Attacker was shot in the chest after his knife rampage and died of his wounds in Royal Melbourne Hospital

Holden Rodeo crashed before bursting into flames on the pavement in front of shocked afternoon shoppers

Man then stabbed three bystanders before slashing at two police officers who confronted him

Video then showed him scuffle with officers before being shot in the chest, and falling to the ground

A brave shopper also tried to run him down with a trolley during the chaos before the man was arrested

Man rushed to hospital in a critical condition with a chest injury as two others were taken with minor injuries

A third man was dead at the scene with his body laying in the street covered with a white sheet

Somalian man is reportedly known to ASIO spy agency and has links to terror plotters that are being probed

His brother was arrested in 2017 for attempting a terror attack in Federation Square on New Years Eve

By Brittany Chain and Nic White For Daily Mail Australia, 9 November 2018:

The knife-wielding Somali terrorist who was shot dead by police after crashing a car on Melbourne’s Bourke Street and setting it on fire, before stabbing three men, one fatally, has been named as Mohamed Khalif.

The lone wolf attacker also goes by the name of Hassan Shire, the Herald Sun reported.

He was rushed to hospital in a critical condition but later died from his wounds.

Officers shot him in the chest after his Holden Rodeo loaded with gas cylinders hit a pedestrian as it mounted the kerb and exploded outside Target near the Swanson Street intersection about 4.20pm on Friday.

Video shot from the scene showed the frenzied attack that carried on for more than a minute, beginning with Khalif charging at two police officers, punching one through a vehicle window and lunging at them with a knife.

The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) have since claimed the attack as their own via their propaganda platform, releasing a statement saying ‘the perpetrator of the operation in Melbourne was an Islamic State fighter and carried out the operation to target nationals of the coalition fighting IS’, Amaq reported, allegedly quoting a jihadist security source.

ISIS have previously claimed responsibility for attacks that were later discovered to be unrelated to the organisation.

Khalif’s 21-year-old brother, Ali Khalif Shire Ali, was arrested in November of 2017 in relation to an alleged foiled terror attack in Federation Square, also in the heart of Melbourne.

A knifeman stabbed a shopper to death on Melbourne’s Bourke Street Mall and injured two others. A body was seen lying on the street covered in a white sheet

The 31-year-old and his family were known to counter-terror agencies at a state and national level and were believed to have ties with north African extremist groups.

Khalif’s passport was cancelled several years ago after he was flagged as one of 300 potential security risks.

It was also noted police are unable to get in touch with Khalif’s wife, and believe she is both missing and radicalised.

Authorities may be hoping to utilise the state’s preventative detention laws for the first time since they came into effect, in which police are legally allowed to detain a suspect for up to seven days should they believe the person poses a threat or security risk, Herald Sun reported.

Premier Daniel Andrews said the attack was ‘an evil and terrifying thing that’s happened in our state’.

‘Our thoughts and prayers are with everybody touched by this, but we will not be defined by this,’ he said.

Victorian Liberal Party leader Matthew Guy said ‘we must eradicate this sort of thing,’ in a media conference shortly after.

Video showed a man wielding a knife attempt to stab and slash at two police officers before he was shot and fell to the ground, and also a brave shopper try to hit him with a trolley

The officers then retreated to the other side of the road as the bearded attacker with a shaved head and dressed in a long brown tunic, pursued them as horrified bystanders called on police to shoot him

Khalif chased the officers around a tree as they tried to avoid his blows and convince him to surrender.

A brave bystander tried to stop the attack by running him down with a shopping trolley.

Another bystander, who lunged at Khalif using a traffic cone, told the Daily Telegraph the offender had ‘crazy eyes’.

Another young witness, who was working at a local KFC at the time, recollected the moment he saw all the blood from one of the victims, who was face down on the footpath.

Markel Villasin, 22 and his bosses ran out of their store when they heard a ‘commotion’.

Mr Villasin said he saw the terrorist Mohamed Khalif holding a knife and swinging it at police officers.

‘It looked like police officers didn’t know how to handle the situation because obviously in Melbourne it’s so rare,’ Mr Villasin told ABC.

Mr Villasin saw the man was breathing but appeared to be ‘bleeding out’, as emergency responders attempted to resuscitate him using CPR.

Despite the desperate attempts to save the man, he later died as a result of his wounds.

‘Unfortunately, the man passed away, they put a sheet on him. It was crazy because he was alive at my feet as they tried to work on him and then he passed away,’ Mr Villasin said.

The officers then retreated to the other side of the road as the bearded attacker with a shaved head and dressed in a long brown tunic pursued them.

Horrified bystanders begged police to shoot him.

Khalif again attempted to stab and slash at the officers several times before one policeman unsuccessfully tried to taser him.

His partner then shot the assailant in the chest.

The knifeman clutched his chest and and fell to the ground where he was quickly arrested on the pavement by two plain clothing officers and rushed to hospital under police guard, where he later died on the operating table.

Khalif and his family were known to the Australian Secret Intelligence Organisation, the country’s domestic spy agency, after his younger brother was arrested for allegedly attempting a New Years Eve 2017 attack.

He was outed as an ‘ISIS sympathiser’ when it was alleged he planned to execute a major terrorist attack, before police say they intercepted his plans.

Ali was arrested and charged last November and had been the target of an undercover operation by the Australian Federal Police’ (AFP) Joint-Counter-Terrorism Team, Melbourne’s Supreme Court heard in June.

Federal agent Jonathan Bedford said officers had been monitoring Ali’s activities very closely and ‘sometimes daily’ in March-April last year, the court was told.

Ali will face a Supreme Court trial after pleading not guilty to the accusations.

Daily Mail is not suggesting Ali had any involvement in Friday’s Bourke Street attack.

His possible links to known terror plotters and extremist elements of the North African community in Australia are being investigated.

Khalif moved to Australia from Somalia in the 1990’s, Victoria Police commissioner Graham Ashton said, and had a record of ‘minor’ offences in relation to ‘cannabis use, theft and driving offences’.

‘He is known to police and is known mainly in respect to relatives he has that are certainly persons of interest.’