Australian Radical Islamic group: Inside the world of radical group Al-Furqan

Facebook images show members of Al-Furqan at a protest in the city.

RADICAL Islamic group Al-Furqan is no stranger to controversy.

Established in the days after the September 11, 2001 terror attacks in the US, the fringe group came to prominence for the first time in 2012.

That September, Australian Federal Police and Victoria Police counterterrorism squads raided the Al-Furqan Information Centre in Springvale South.

Islamic leaders confirmed Numan Haider, who stabbed two counterterrorism officers in Endeavour Hills on Tuesday night, had been a member of Al-Furqan.

But Al-Furqan leader Harun Mehicevic refused to say whether Haider had been involved in the group. He said he would not comment on Haider’s attack or discuss his death.

Speaking outside a Springvale flat near the Al-Furqan bookshop, the controversial sheik said the group was working on a statement to be released to the public.

A man who answered the door at the Al-Furqan bookshop said he did not know Haider and was there only to read books with his children.

Islamic Council of Victoria secretary Ghaith Krayem said members of Al-Furqan had told him Haider hadn’t been in the group for a while.

In January, The Australian reported that the brother of an Australian man jailed for ­terrorism-related offences in Saudi Arabia had delivered a lecture at the Al-Furqan ­centre.

Terror suspect Numan Haider was a member of Al-Furqan.

The lecture tour was allegedly backed by radical organisation Millatu Ibrahim.

A former member of Al-Furqan told the Herald Sun in 2012 that the group insisted on a hardline interpretation of the Koran.

Photographs provided by the former member allegedly show members of Al-Furqan protesting in the city, posing with guns or bows and arrows and in camouflage gear.

“There were camps that they would go on,” said the ex-member, who joined in 2009.

“They would do activities like archery and paintball, and they would do what they called clay shooting. They would basically just be practising with their guns.”

The ex-member claimed the leader polarised members with his extreme views.

Bosnian Islamic Organisation of Australia chairman Jasmin Bekric said at the time that he met Al-Furqan founders soon after the September 11 attacks and believed they were inspired by them.

“We had a clash with their ideas and their approach to interpreting Islam, and at the time I strongly condemned their thinking, their dogma,” Mr Bekric said.

After the 2012 raids, Al-Furqan attacked Victoria Police and the AFP for their handling of the matter, saying the raids were done to justify the “existence of anti-terror authorities, whose jobs are threatened with the realisation that there are hardly any serious terrorism cases to investigate”.

Al-Furqan said homes were damaged, and children were forced to dress and undress in front of police.

It said many children, some aged as young as two, witnessed “gun-wielding police” and also accused police of trying to lure women as spies for ASIO.

No arrests were made at the Al-Furqan centre.