7 OCT 2026Brussels bombings
7 OCT 2026 Minto stabbing – Ihsas Khan
On 10 September 2016, Ihsas Khan stabbed his neighbour Wayne Greenhalgh, 57, many times with a hunting knife in a driveway in Minto, in Sydney's south-west. Mr Greenhalgh survived after running to a nearby hairdressing salon for help. SBS reported that Khan shouted "Allahu Akbar" during the attack, and the ABC reported that he was tasered, arrested and charged with committing a terrorist act. The jury accepted the prosecution case that he had planned to attack a civilian on or around 11 September, the anniversary of the 2001 attacks, and that he chose Mr Greenhalgh because of a T-shirt carrying a US stars-and-stripes and Iwo Jima flag-raising image.
Khan pleaded not guilty on the ground of mental illness. In May 2019, after a series of mistrials, the sixth jury to hear the case found him guilty. On 5 June 2019, Justice Geoffrey Bellew of the NSW Supreme Court sentenced him to 36 years' imprisonment, with a non-parole period of 27 years. The judge said: "The offender's attack was violent, ferocious and inhumane," and "The offender did not just set out to harm Mr Greenhalgh, he was on a mission to kill him." The ABC reported that Mr Greenhalgh has ongoing nerve damage, insomnia and post-traumatic stress disorder, and cannot work.
A 2020 paper by NSW Supreme Court Justice Peter Johnson records that R v Khan (No. 11) and R v Shoma (Vic) "were the first persons to be sentenced for the offence of intentionally engaging in a terrorist act, with sentence being passed coincidentally on the same day in the Supreme Courts of NSW and Victoria."
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7 OCT 2026 Christmas 2016 terror plot, Melbourne
On 22 December 2016, the Victorian Joint Counter Terrorism Team (AFP, Victoria Police and ASIO) arrested men it said had planned an attack in Melbourne's CBD. A joint AFP–Victoria Police release says the men planned "to use improvised bombs and machetes in a terrorist attack in Melbourne’s CBD during the 2016 Christmas period." Detectives from Operation Kastelholm seized machetes, partly built IEDs, and devices holding Islamic State propaganda and bomb-making instructions. The SMH reported that between October and late December 2016 the group bought chemicals and other materials from Bunnings and Chemist Warehouse, downloaded bomb-making instructions and tried to make IEDs. The ABC reported that the trial heard Federation Square was a planned target.
Ibrahim Abbas pleaded guilty and gave evidence that he was the ringleader. In September 2018, Justice Andrew Tinney sentenced him to 24 years with a 20-year non-parole period, although the sentence was not published until November 2018, after a suppression order was revoked. Justice Tinney said: “Your timely arrest by the dedicated and expert investigators of the Joint Counter Terrorism Team was all that prevented a devastating and murderous terrorist attack in the heart of the City of Melbourne.”
In October 2018, a jury found Hamza Abbas, Abdullah Chaarani and Ahmed Mohamed guilty of conspiring to do acts in preparation for, or planning, a terrorist act (s 101.6 Criminal Code (Cth)). On 29 November 2019, Justice Christopher Beale sentenced Hamza Abbas to 22 years (non-parole 16 years 6 months). Chaarani and Mohamed received new head sentences of 38 years (non-parole 28 years 6 months), because both were already serving terms for setting fire to a Shia mosque in Fawkner. Justice Beale called the plot "an assault on the fundamental values of our society".
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7 OCT 2026 Orlando Pulse nightclub shooting
Just after 2am on 12 June 2016, Omar Mir Seddique Mateen opened fire on staff and patrons at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida, where about 300 people were present. According to the FBI, an active-shooter situation became a hostage situation when he barricaded himself and victims in a bathroom, and officers killed him at about 5am. Forty-nine people were murdered and 58 wounded. In three 911 calls during the attack, he claimed allegiance to the leader of the so-called Islamic State, among others. The FBI states: "The FBI concluded the attack was an act of terrorism—the worst on U.S. soil since September 11, 2001." It also says the club building was demolished in March 2026, with a permanent memorial planned for 2027.
Mateen's widow, Noor Salman, was charged with providing material support to a terrorist organisation and with obstruction. A federal jury acquitted her of both on 30 March 2018. AP reported that the FBI's own receipts and cellphone data showed the couple were not near the Pulse on the day she said they had scouted it.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said: "This was a murderous attack on gay people in this nightclub" (SMH).
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7 OCT 2026 Berlin Christmas market attack
At 20:14 local time on 19 December 2016, a lorry loaded with steel beams was driven into the Christmas market at Breitscheidplatz, near the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church in Berlin, killing 12 people and injuring 49 (BBC). The lorry's Polish driver, Lukasz Urban, 37, was found dead in the cab, and police said he appeared to have been the victim of a hijack. Police first detained a 23-year-old Pakistani man, who denied involvement and was released after questioning.
German prosecutors named Anis Amri, a 24-year-old Tunisian, as the driver after finding his identity papers in the cab, and his fingerprints were later found there too. The BBC reported that he was known to German authorities and had used several identities. His asylum claim had been rejected, but he could not be deported because he lacked valid identity papers. So-called Islamic State said one of its "soldiers" carried out the attack, without offering evidence. Amri was shot dead by Italian police near Milan on 23 December 2016 after he opened fire on officers during a routine check.
Brisbane woman Trisha O'Neill, who lived in Berlin, told the ABC she saw "blood and bodies everywhere" (reported by SBS and SMH). DFAT warned Australians to avoid the area and tried to find out whether any Australians were hurt. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said Australia would do all it could to reduce the risk of attack here, but "we cannot mitigate all risk entirely" (SBS).
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Introduction
On the morning of 22 March 2016, suicide bombers attacked Brussels Airport at Zaventem. Not long afterwards, another bomb exploded on a metro train at Maelbeek/Maalbeek station, near the institutions of the European Union.
Thirty-two victims were killed, in addition to the suicide bombers, and more than 300 were injured. Islamic State claimed the attacks.
At the time, investigators were pursuing members and associates of the network behind the November 2015 Paris attacks. The Brussels attacks were linked to the same broader Islamic State network.
In July 2023 a Brussels court found six of ten accused guilty of terrorist murder, including Salah Abdeslam and Mohamed Abrini. Sentences followed in September 2023, ranging up to life imprisonment. Salah Abdeslam was given no additional term, because he was already serving 20 years in Belgium over a 2016 shootout with police.
Government Response
Belgian authorities mounted a large investigation with domestic and international partners.
The attacks led to a parliamentary examination of intelligence, policing, emergency response, radicalisation and security structures.
A major criminal trial later dealt with participants and associates.
Australia
Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said her department was working to find out whether any Australians were affected. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said "all Australians condemn these cowardly terrorist attacks in Brussels", and that "The Belgian people have our thoughts, our prayers and our resolute solidarity in this battle against terrorism."
Summary
On 22 March 2016, suicide bombers attacked Brussels Airport and a metro train near the European Union's institutions. Thirty-two victims were killed and hundreds were injured.
Brussels was already living with raids, arrests and warnings from the Paris investigation, and the attacks were linked to the same Islamic State network. Transport was disrupted, public spaces were locked down and European institutions tightened security.
Belgium's parliament examined how the network had operated across European borders before Paris and Brussels. In 2023, a court convicted six people of terrorist murder.
You be the judge.
