"Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims, their family and those injured by today’s tragic event. We condemn this tragic event in the strongest of terms. There is no place for terrorism or extremism in our society. Somali Australians are peaceful people, terrorism is a disease and scourge on society, we must do everything we can to ensure it is eradicated. Today is about Australians coming together, to stand against acts of terrorism. We thank law enforcement agencies and bystanders who came to the aid of strangers. Australians from all walks of life stand side-by-side to overcome this tragedy," Somali Community of Victoria.
Please check latest situation HERE with SBS News.
Victoria police have confirmed the identity of the attacker who fatally stabbed one person and injured two others in the heart of Melbourne on Friday afternoon (nov 9).
The offender has been identified as Hassan Khalif Shire Ali, a 30-year old Somalian-born man.
The attack took place in Bourke Street when Mr Khalif set a car alight then stabbed three men before he was shot by police in the chest. He later died in hospital.
Federal and Victoria security agencies have mounted a terrorism investigation as I-S claimed responsibility for the attack - for which they provided no evidence.
But despite authorities saying he was a person of interest, Victoria's Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton has admitted to the Nine Network the attack came at a surprise.
"Look, he is someone that was known to us but the information that we had through the night, we with working on, he wasn't somebody that we were actively monitoring to that we were actively monitoring to that level in relation to his activities, no." "It looks like there's been some attempt to light a fire, and some materials were there that he was planning to ignite, and it did ignite. There were gas cylinders in the car and the gas cylinders had been turned to the open position. It certainly wasn't anything remotely sophisticated, evidenced by the fact that it wasn't effective. The car's basically just caught fire, and the firebrigade was able to, fire and rescue were able to terminate the fire pretty quickly."
Counter-terrorism investigations are continuing into the suspect's background, with raids having been undertaken on two properties in Werribee and Meadows Heights.
Australian Federal Police ((AFP)) Acting Deputy Commissioner for National Security Ian McCartney has confirmed Mr Shire Ali held radical views and his passport was cancelled in 2015 when ASIO assessed he planned to travel to Syria.
The A-F-P's Ian McCartney says authorities didn't see him as being a threat to national security.
"In terms of the assessment on this individual, he was never a target of the JCTT in terms of the investigations we undertake. The assessment was made that whilst he had radicalised views he didn't oppose a threat in relation to the national security environment. Obviously, the circumstances of how he and when he moved from having these radicalised views to carrying out this attack yesterday will be a key focus of the investigation."
Prime Minister Scott Morrison and the Opposition leader Bill Shorten have both condemned the attack.
The Victorian State Government says its anti-terrorism subcommittee is meeting this morning ((nov 10)) to discuss the events overnight and further measures.
On Friday ((nov 9)), Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews called on Victorians to continue living their normal lives.
"We will not as a city and a state be defined by this act of evil. We will simply refuse to do that. We will go about our business this weekend and every weekend because we are bigger and stronger than this, we will not be defined by this."
Opposition leader Matthew Guy wants more measures in place to avoid another attack.
"There are no excuses for this behaviour, whether it's terrorism, whether it's other issues involved, there are no excuses for it. And we need to use every resource of the State to eradicate it, once and for all. We do not have to live like this. Melburnians do not have to endure this, the third such event in as many years."
Labor's Defence Industry spokesman Richard Marles has urged Australians to get on with their lives following the deadly attack in Melbourne's C-B-D.
Mr Marles has told the A-B-C authorities Australians should feel confident in current counter-terrorism measures.
"Look, there has been a lot of work done on counter-terrorism measures now over a long period of time. Very sadly, terrorism is a part of our lives, not just in Victoria, but Australia and the world, but we are handling them well and that's not to be complacent. There has been an awful lot of work here. We need to make sure we get our laws right, but we've been doing that and we need to make sure that our agencies are the about of the they can be and they are properly resourced and that is happening, too."
