Bomb-making instructions found in Australian teen's home

An Australian court on Monday heard that a teenager from Victoria state had instructions and the materials to make pipe bombs and a pressure cooker backpack explosive in his home when he was arrested during a counter-terrorism raid.

The boy is charged with engaging in or planning an act of terrorism and possessing things in relation to a terrorist act after being arrested in the joint Australian Federal Police (AFP)-Victoria Police operation on May 8, ABC reported.

The court is hearing an application to take the matter to a higher court.

An AFP official told the hearing an encrypted file on the teenager's computer seized in the raid included a nine-page document detailing how to build a switch-activated pressure cooker bomb.

"It appears to have been followed closely by the accused, and gives instructions about how to make explosive devices," he said.

Prosecutors believe that he was also planning to build pipe bombs with officers allegedly seizing a pressure cooker, screws, nails, galvanised piping and the scratch heads of a number of match sticks.

The court was told the devices are normally placed in a backpack and used in suicide bombings.

It also heard a number of the documents seized from the boy's home had to be translated from Arabic and included an article published by Al Qaeda.

The hearing has been adjourned while it is decided whether the case should be moved to a higher court.