Excerpt:
There is an open secret within Melbourne's overwhelmingly moderate and peace-loving Somali community: for those who might be drawn to radical Islam, for the young disenfranchised refugees who might find solace in anti-West messages of hate, there are three suburban mosques that promote such ideas after hours.
They are the Huntingdale mosque, in Melbourne's southeast; the Fawkner mosque, in the north; and the now notorious 8 Black prayer centre in North Melbourne, a former pool hall closer to the gritty inner-city -- all of which provide the Somali community with a place for preaching and learning.
Not that militant fundamentalism can be found in the routine sermons offered to the congregations there. It mostly happens after dark and late into the night, when the local imam is not present, when the keys to the centre are handed over to small groups of radicals, including those who sympathise with the sharia-supporting terrorist group al-Shabaab, which is waging war on Somalia's US-backed transitional government.