Australian national broadcaster raided over ‘Afghan Files’ 

The Australian police raided the Sydney headquarters of the country's public broadcaster ABC on Wednesday over an article published in 2017 about Australian special forces being investigated over possible war crimes in Afghanistan.

The raid comes one day after the police searched the home, computer and cellphone of News Corp political editor Annika Smethurst over articles she published in 2018 on proposals to expand Australia's domestic surveillance capabilities.

The police said the two raids were not related.

John Lyons, the Executive Editor of ABC News and the head of its investigative journalism unit, said on Twitter that the police had arrived at ABC's headquarters with a search warrant that named three journalists. "We'll be taking material with us. It will be sealed," he quoted one of the officers as saying.

According to the ABC, Wednesday's search was about the 2017 investigative series known as "The Afghan Files" which "revealed allegations of unlawful killings and misconduct by Australian special forces in Afghanistan".

The broadcaster said the series was "based off hundreds of pages of secret Defence documents leaked to the ABC".

The police said the warrant was in relation to "allegations of publishing classified material" and that it "relates to a referral received on July 11, 2017 from the Chief of the Defence Force and the then-Acting Secretary for Defence".

The Afghan Files were published by the ABC on July 10, 2017.

The searches sparked concern about press freedom in Australia, with the media union denouncing them as a disturbing attempt to "intimidate" journalism.

The ABC warrant named reporters Dan Oakes and Sam Clark, as well as ABC's news boss Gaven Morris.

In a statement less than an hour after the police officers entered the office, ABC's Managing Director David Anderson called the raid "highly unusual".

"This is a serious development and raises legitimate concerns over freedom of the press and proper public scrutiny of national security and defence matters," he said.

"The ABC stands by its journalists, will protect its sources and continue to report without fear or favour on national security and intelligence issues when there is a clear public interest."

ABC's Executive Editor Lyons live tweeted the raid since it began and said that the police were going through 9,214 documents found on the ABC systems one-by-one, including "thousands of internal ABC emails".

ABC News Director Gaven Morris defended the two journalists who were named along with him in the search warrant.

"For the record, @DanielMOakes and @sclark_melbs are two of @abcnews' finest journalists," he tweeted.

"Honest and committed to telling the truth in the Australian public's interests. Just like @annikasmethurst. I'm proud of the difficult work they all do."

The two raids come weeks after a new centre-right government was elected, bringing Prime Minister Scott Morrison back in power.

He responded to Tuesday's raid on Smethurst's Canberra home by saying that while he supported press freedom, "it never troubles me that our laws are being upheld".