MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - AN Australian jury found a Muslim cleric and five of his followers guilty on Monday of planning to stage a 'violent jihad' in Melbourne in 2005 to force Australian troops out of Iraq.

But the jury in Australia's biggest terrorism trial acquitted four other Muslim men and was still to decide the fate of two others after deliberating for four weeks, local media at the court said.

The prosecutor told the Victoria state Supreme Court that the group had planned to attack a grand final football match in Australia's second-largest city, Melbourne, attended by 97,000 fans. No attack took place. -- REUTERS