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Nuke reactor was Australian terror target

Members of an alleged Islamic terrorist cell in Sydney stockpiled bomb-making materials, trained at rural hunting camps and sized up Australia`s only nuclear reactor as a possible target, a police report said Monday.

In a 20-page glimpse into Australia`s biggest terrorism investigation, police said the eight suspects arrested last week had the know-how and were assembling chemicals, detonators, digital timers and batteries to carry out a major bomb attack. A reactor used to make radioactive medicines and irradiated semiconductor parts, on the edge of Sydney, Australia`s biggest city, was listed as a possible target, according to the report.

The eight men have been charged with conspiring to make explosives for use in a terrorist act. Ten other men, including a radical Muslim cleric, were arrested in Melbourne on charges of being members of a terror group. All 18 could face life imprisonment if convicted.