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		</div><p>Police in Australia have detained five suspects who were allegedly planning a series of Christmas Day bomb attacks in the heart of the country&#8217;s second largest city.</p>
<p>The suspects had been inspired by the so-called &#8216;Islamic State&#8217; group and planned attacks on Melbourne&#8217;s Flinders Street railway station, neighbouring Federation Square and St Paul&#8217;s Cathedral, Victoria state Police Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton said.</p>
<p>The arrests came after a truck smashed into a Christmas market in Berlin on Monday, killing 12 people.</p>
<p>Two of seven people initially arrested in raids on Thursday night and Friday morning in Melbourne &#8211; a 26-year-old man and a 20-year-old woman &#8211; were released without being charged.</p>
<p>Five men between ages 21 and 26 remained in custody.</p>
<p>They were not identified but police said four were born in Australia and the fifth was Egyptian-born with Egyptian and Australian citizenship.</p>
<p>Police had been watching the alleged plotters for some time, and believed they were preparing to use explosives and other weapons, Mr Ashton said.</p>
<p>The authorities believed the threat to Melbourne had been neutralised by the raids and the arrests, he said.</p>
<p>Mr Ashton said police had gathered evidence in the raids that the plotters were planning to use explosives in their attack.</p>
<p><i>&#8220;We gathered the makings of an improvised explosive device,&#8221;</i> he said.</p>
<p>He added: <i>&#8220;Certainly (there was the) potential for quite a number of people to be injured or killed in this attack.&#8221;</i></p>
<p>About 400 police officers were involved in the raids.</p>
<p>Mr Ashton described those arrested as &#8220;self-radicalised&#8221; and inspired by so-called &#8216;Islamic State&#8217; propaganda.</p>
<p>Victoria state Premier Daniel Andrews said there will be extra police on the streets of Melbourne on Christmas Day to make the public feel safe.</p>
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