SYDNEY - Two 16-year-old boys were Thursday charged with terror-related offences in Australia, including planning an attack, after being arrested with "bayonet-type" knives in Sydney.
The pair, who were not named, were seized in the city's southwest on Wednesday after buying the weapons in a shop, with police saying they were inspired by the so-called Islamic State.
They face life imprisonment after being charged with "acts done in preparation, or planning, terrorist acts", and membership of a terror organisation.
"We don't have any specific information of a particular target where we will allege that there was going to be an imminent attack," said New South Wales Police Commissioner Catherine Burn.
"What we do know, though, is that the actions, we will allege, were enough to say they were preparing to do an attack although we don't know specifically where that attack was going to take place."
She added that police were alleging "this attack was inspired by Islamic State".
"The charge that relates to membership of an organisation, we will allude to their association or allegiance with Islamic State," she said.
They were refused bail and were due to appear in a children's court later Thursday.
Australian officials say they have now prevented 11 terror attacks on home soil in the past two years.
The arrests come just weeks after a 22-year-old man, who police said was also inspired by Islamic State, stabbed a 59-year-old grandfather out walking in Sydney, leaving him with serious injuries.
Two days before the stabbing, a teenage boy was charged with making threats at the Sydney Opera House, with both incidents following an IS call to target high-profile Australian sites.