SYDNEY, Feb. 18 (Xinhua) -- The police force in the Australian state of New South Wales (NSW) on Wednesday established a new strike force to investigate a spate of shootings and arson attacks across western Sydney.
A statement from the NSW Police Force on Wednesday said that its organized crime-focused Raptor Squad has commenced a new strike force to investigate the attacks.
It comes after a 44-year-old sustained multiple gunshot wounds when he was shot from a vehicle outside a home in Greenacre, 14 km west of central Sydney, on Tuesday morning.
Police later found a vehicle matching the description of the one used in the attack on fire in a neighboring suburb.
In a second incident, multiple shots were fired at a house in St Clair, 40 km west of central Sydney, around 12:45 a.m. on Wednesday and a vehicle was again found on fire nearby.
The sole occupant of the house, a woman aged in her 50s, was not injured.
Around 6 a.m. on Wednesday, emergency services were called to reports of a fire in Guildford West, 22 km west of central Sydney, and arrived to find a house and a nearby vehicle alight.
The fires were extinguished and no injuries were reported.
The NSW Police Force said that strike force detectives are treating all three incidents as linked to a conflict between two organized crime networks.
Local media reported that both houses involved in the incidents in the early hours of Wednesday morning were targeted for their links to the son of the 44-year-old shooting victim, who has been identified as a former professional athlete. ■
