Australia Arrests 15 In Islamic State Beheading Plot

Law enforcement officials in Australia have reportedly arrested 15 people in connection with a terrorist plot by the Islamic State that was set to be carried out on Australian soil.

Authorities said at a press conference Thursday that the Islamic State was planning on carrying out the attack to show how far their power reached. The group was reportedly trying to recruit local Australians to help with the attack.

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said during a press conference that the rumors that the Islamic State was going to publically behead a random person in Sydney were true.

"That's the intelligence we received," the prime minister told reporters during a press conference. "The exhortations — quite direct exhortations — were coming from an Australian who is apparently quite senior in ISIL to networks of support back in Australia to conduct demonstration killings here in this country."

"This is not just suspicion, this is intent and that's why the police and security agencies decided to act in the way they have," he added.

News of this recent attack comes after U.S. President Barack Obama announced a long-term strategy for defeating the Islamic State, a terror group overtaking large swaths of Iraq and Syria.

Although the group is affiliated with the al-Qaeda terrorist organization, intelligence groups have argued that the Islamic State projects a special brand of extremism and brutality, as seen by its Australia plot and its recent beheading of two American journalists who were being held hostage.

Prime Minister Abbott has not yet revealed the identity of the Australian affiliated with the Islamic State.