Foreign fighters returning from the Middle East pose a real risk of perpetrating a mass casualty attack, Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has told parliament.
The number of returned fighters in the region with hands-on terrorist experience from Syria and Iraq now far exceed those who fought in Afghanistan in the 1990s.
"This is a chilling thought," says Ms Bishop, adding extremists who fought and trained in Afghanistan were responsible for the Bali bombings, the bombing of the Australian embassy in Jakarta, the sinking of a ferry in the Philippines, and the bombing of the Jakarta Marriott and Ritz Carlton hotels.
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