Suspect package not seen as threat

About 800 people were evacuated from a Sydney train on Thursday after a package, thought to be a bomb, was found but police and Olympics security staff said the incident was not being treated as a threat to the Games.

The small package was found on a commuter train shortly after 8 a.m. during the morning rush hour.

Bomb squad police, fire brigade and ambulance officials were called to suburban Kirrawee railway station in Sydney's south, 20 km from the main Olympic venues.

"Specialist police rendered the package safe and have taken that item away for further forensic testing," regional police commander Ike Ellis said in a statement.

"The exact nature of the package will not be known until those forensic tests have been completed," he said.

"No, it's not at all (an Olympic threat)," a police spokeswoman told Reuters.

A joint police and defence force operation set up for the Olympics, which begin on September 15, was not involved in the response to the package, a spokeswoman for Olympics security said.

The joint operation, code-named Joint Task Force Gold, is made up of 1,000 personnel from 12 agencies.

While the Australian Defence Force has identified more than 100 possible scenarios for terrorist attacks during the Games, the overall risk has been described as low by defence, security and Games officials.

Australian authorities have been playing down news reports that New Zealand police uncovered plans which seemed to point to an attack on a Sydney research nuclear reactor during an investigation into an immigration racket involving Afghan refugees.

Australia's disadvantaged Aborigines have said they will stage peaceful protests during the Games to bring world attention to their plight.