Roundup: Australians mark Anzac Day despite thwarted terror plot

Thousands of Australians got up early on Monday morning as they did every Anzac Day to mark the bloody battle fought at the Turkish beach of Gallipoli by Australian and New Zealand troops during the First World War.

About 55,000 people attended the Anzac Parade held in front of the War Memorial in Canberra, the national capital. Before the parade, a large crowd showed up despite the autumn chill of Canberra for the Dawn service held at 5:30 a.m., the time when the Anzac troops first began their landing at Gallipoli 101 years ago.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull delivered the commemorative address at the national service at the War Memorial.

"At their training camps outside Cairo, diggers stood in reverent silence as they recalled the disastrous Gallipoli campaign of the year before," he said.

"Many of them had been evacuated from Gallipoli only months before. They knew that more terrible challenges awaited them."

"Within weeks they would sail for France, having experienced the horror of trench warfare on the ridges above Anzac Cove, they were now to confront even more."

Turnbull said Australia, New Zealand and Turkey count Gallipoli as a momentous chapter in their foundation story.

"Today we offer our solidarity to the Turkish people as we and our allies battle together a new war against terrorism, a new war fought both abroad and at home and in every dimension in the battle space and the cyber space," Turnbull said in his first Anzac Day address as the nation's leader.

He also said that Anzac Day was not about glorifying war.

"This day does not commemorate a triumph of arms," he told the crowd at the Australian War Memorial. It commemorates the triumph of the human spirit, the courage and resolve of those who 100 years ago and ever since, and today put their lives on the line."

The arrest of a 16-year-old boy in Sydney hours before the Dawn service of Anzac Day started reminded the country that a new war on terrorism could not be ignored.

Australian counter-terrorism authorities arrested a 16-year-old teenager at his western Sydney home late Sunday.

Australian Broadcasting Company (ABC) reported that the matter was heard in the Children's Court on Monday morning, and the boy did not apply for bail. Papers tendered to the court showed the teenager was allegedly trying to obtain a gun to carry out an Anzac Day terror plot -- an offence that carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.

This is the second year in a row when authorities say they thwarted an alleged terror plot targeting Anzac Day commemorations.

Security was beefed up at the Anzac commemoration ceremony held at Sydney's Hyde Park.

However, the news failed to deter Sydneysiders and visitors from flocking to get a glimpse of the military bands and veterans marching along Elizabeth Street in the CBD.

In South Australia, about 6,000 military veterans and current servicemen and women took part in this year's Anzac Day parade in Adelaide, with some 8,000 crowd watching.

In Western Australia, heavy rain failed to dampen the enthusiasm of the estimated crowd of 30,000 or about 6,500 people who participated in the Anzac Day parade.

The Australian Associated Press reported that hundreds of Australians and New Zealanders slept out to be at the dawn service at Gallipoli, Turkey where the Anzac story began.

Dawn services were also held in Kabul by Australian Defence Force personnel on deployment in Afghanistan. Endit