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Man drives car with gas cylinders into Sydney police station Man drives car with gas cylinders into Sydney police station
(35 minutes later)
A car carrying gas cylinders has driven into the underground car park of a Sydney police station. One person has been taken into custody. A car carrying gas cylinders has driven into the underground car park of a Sydney police station. The suspect suffered serious burns and was taken to hospital.
The incident began at around 7pm local time, when police noticed a man in his 60s parked in the driveway of Merrylands police station in west Sydney, New South Wales police assistant Denis Clifford said, as cited by The Sydney Morning Herald.
When police approached the vehicle, it ignited and the man drove it down the driveway, ramming it into the door of the station's underground car park. 
Police managed to extinguish the flames and the driver was taken to hospital after suffering "very serious burns." 
Clifford said the man was "unconscious for some time," the Guardian reported.
It is believed the man's vehicle contained a gas cylinder. 
A police source said the incident was a "very deliberate attack" on the police station, Sydney Morning Herald crime and justice reporter Nick Ralston tweeted.A police source said the incident was a "very deliberate attack" on the police station, Sydney Morning Herald crime and justice reporter Nick Ralston tweeted.
Officers from Police Rescue and the Bomb Disposal Unit are currently examining the car, which is believed to have been filled with gas bottles that did not detonate, 9 News reported.  ABC reported that police were originally treating the incident as a terror attack, but now believe it is a mental health issue.
ABC has reported that police were originally treating the incident as a terror attack, but now believe it is a mental health issue.
According to police sources cited by Ralston, the man involved in the attack was known to police but wasn't believed to have any known links to terrorism.According to police sources cited by Ralston, the man involved in the attack was known to police but wasn't believed to have any known links to terrorism.
Specialist officers wearing helmets and holding shields are at the scene, dog squad officers, and plainclothes police wearing bulletproof vests are patrolling the scene, according to The Sydney Morning Herald. Specialist officers wearing helmets and holding shields were at the scene, along with dog squad officers and plainclothes police wearing bulletproof vests.
A statement from police said that no members of the public or officers have been injured in the operation. A statement from police said that no members of the public or officers were injured in the operation.
Memorial Avenue, where the station is located, remains blocked off as a "precaution," police said. Clifford has called on witnesses to "please come forward...particularly if there is any mobile phone footage as is often the case these days."