Police say his family is well known and respected within the Somali community in Melbourne. They attended the Virgin Mary Mosque in Hoppers Crossing, west of Melbourne. Shire Ali most commonly attended prayer in Melbourne’s northern suburbs.”
Are these mosques being investigated? If not, they should be. The tendency among law enforcement officials in the West is to assume that jihadis have been “radicalized” by influences outside the Muslim communities in which they moved and lived. This is an unproven assumption, and one that could have disastrous consequences.
“Bourke Street attacker Hassan Khalif Shire Ali was radicalised and inspired by IS, police say,” by Nino Bucci, ABC.net.au, November 10, 2018:
The man who crashed a car full of gas cylinders in the Melbourne CBD before stabbing three people in a terror attack has been identified as Hassan Khalif Shire Ali.
The 30-year-old was shot in the chest by a police officer and later died in hospital.
Here’s what we know about the Bourke Street attacker.
Who was Shire Ali?
Hassan Khalif Shire Ali was born in 1988. He and his family moved from Somalia to Australia in the 1990s.
Police say his family is well known and respected within the Somali community in Melbourne.
They attended the Virgin Mary Mosque in Hoppers Crossing, west of Melbourne.
Shire Ali most commonly attended prayer in Melbourne’s northern suburbs….
What did police know about him?
Shire Ali was known to intelligence agencies and police.
His passport was cancelled in 2015 when the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) believed he planned to travel to Syria.
Police say he held radical views and had links to the Islamic State (IS) group.
However, Shire Ali was never targeted by a Joint Counter Terrorism Teams (JCTT) investigation because an assessment was made that he did not pose a threat to national security.
He was not actively monitored….
His family members and associates are a key focus of the investigation….