Australia arrests Daesh supporter planning terror attack on New Year's

A 20-year-old Australian, allegedly a Daesh terrorist sympathizer, has been arrested for planning a terrorist attack on New Year's Eve celebrations in Melbourne, police said Tuesday.

The man was arrested on Monday during a counter-terrorism operation in the Melbourne suburb of Werribee.

Police alleged the man had planned to shoot people with an automatic gun - which he had not obtained by the time of his arrest - at Melbourne's Federation Square, a tourist hot spot, in the city center.

"What we will be alleging is that he was intending to use a firearm to shoot and kill as many people as he could," Victoria Police deputy commissioner Shane Patton told reporters on Tuesday.

He said the attack would have been "catastrophic."

The unnamed man was born in Australia to Somali parents, but was not linked to any mosque, according to Patton, and he had been monitored by the police since last year as a "high-risk person of interest."

He had connections with terrorists and he would become "energized" online when learning of overseas terrorist attacks, Patton said.

The man had allegedly obtained an al-Qaida manual from the internet with instructions on staging a terrorist attack and how to operate a gun.

Police said he would be charged Tuesday with terrorism offences, which carry a maximum penalty of life in prison.