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Police safety fears after names uploaded to conspiracy forums

Source: 9News

Armed assassins involved in the Queensland shooting that killed six people uploaded the names of individual police officers to conspiracy websites days before the deadly confrontation.

The disturbing posts from the killers before the deadly ambush have prompted calls for a security review for police.

Constables Matthew Arnold, 26, and Rachel McCrow, 29, and resident Alan Dare, 58, were gunned down at a rural property at Wieambilla, between the towns of Tara and Chinchilla, on Monday.

Officers Randall Kirk and Keely Brough, both 28, escaped with minor physical injuries.

The killers – Nathaniel, Gareth and Stacey Train – died in a subsequent firefight with heavily armed tactical officers.

Video from a deleted Youtube account shows a couple, believed to be Gareth and Stacey Train, admit to the killings.

“They came to kill us, and we killed them,” the man says.

However, in an earlier video, posted on December 8, Gareth Train names individual officers from Queensland and NSW including contact details, stations and phone extensions.

The police union has called for security to be reviewed amid concerns of reprisal attacks and officers holding genuine fears for their safety, sources told AAP.

A funeral service with full police honours will be held in Brisbane for the fallen officers on Wednesday, while residents of towns near the Wieambilla shooting site have also paid tribute to the victims.

At a memorial service in Chinchilla attended by Keely Brough on Friday, residents held candles and lined the street to form a guard of honour for police and ambulance officers.

Police continue to probe the Train brothers’ online activities, including their involvement in extremist conspiracy groups and forums.

Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil said security agencies were actively considering the implications for national security.

She said conspiracy theories and disinformation were being “turbocharged by technology into terrible acts of violence”.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton, a former Queensland police officer, likened the killers to Islamic extremists and raised serious concerns about online radicalisation.

The head of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation, Mike Burgess, previously expressed concerns with the rise of online radicalisation.

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