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Two hostages and gunman dead, four injured, as Sydney cafe siege ends
Sydney siege ends as police storm Lindt Cafe and hostages run out
(35 minutes later)
Two hostages and a gunman are dead after a 17-hour armed siege in Sydney’s Martin Place ended with police storming the cafe.
An armed siege at a cafe in the heart of Sydney has ended after police entered the building shortly after a series of loud bangs were heard and groups of hostages ran out onto the street.
Four people were also injured as the siege ended in a chaotic shootout in the early hours of Tuesday.
In dramatic scenes about 17 hours after a single armed man, named in reports as Man Haron Monis, first took an unknown number of hostages, heavily armed police stormed the Lindt Cafe, in a building on Martin Place, a pedestrianised street in the middle of Sydney’s central business district.
The New South Wales police commissioner, Andrew Scipione, confirmed a 34-year-old man and a 38-year-old woman, who were among the hostages, were shot and pronounced dead at hospital. The 50-year-old man who took the hostages, named as Man Haron Monis, died in hospital after the confrontation, Scipione said.
Several bursts of gunfire could be heard, and several people were seen being carried from the building, apparently injured. Some reports said a police officer had been hurt. A number of paramedics were at the scene.The chaotic scenes began as between five and seven hostages were seen running from the cafe, the second group of captives to escape since the siege began at about 9.45am on Monday local time. Later, other groups of what appeared to be hostages could be seen running out.
Two women were taken to hospital with non-life threatening injuries. Another woman had a gunshot wound to her shoulder and a male police officer suffered non-life threatening wounds to his face from gunshot pellets.
A gunman carrying a blue sports bag had reportedly entered the cafe and a hostage situation quickly developed, with heavily armed police surrounding the cafe and closing off the streets of the central area of Australia’s biggest city.
Monis was pronounced dead on arrival at hospital after being shot during the gunfight.
Chilling early images showed some hostages apparently forced to hold a black and white flag against the window bearing the Islamic creed, raising fears that a terrorist attack was under way. Other terrified hostages inside the cafe could be seen with their hands pressed against the glass.
A black flag in the window of the cafe appeared to bear the Shahada, an Islamic affirmation of the oneness of God, reading: “There is no god but the God, Muhammad is the messenger of God.”
The creed is common in the Islamic world and appears on the Saudi Arabian flag. To non-Muslims, the flag might have immediately evoked Islamic State, Jabhat Al-Nusra, the Khorosan Group, or other violent jihadi groups who have claimed the symbol in recent years.
Tony Abbott made a short statement as the siege was ongoing, urging Australians to be resolute. “We don’t yet know the motivation of the perpetrator, we don’t know whether this is politically motivated although obviously there are some indications that it could be,” the prime minister said.
“We have to appreciate that even in a society such as ours, there are people who would wish to do us harm, that’s why we have police and security organisations of the utmost professionalism that are ready and able to respond to a whole range of situations and contingencies including this situation that we are now seeing in Sydney.”
Australia’s grand mufti, Dr Ibrahim Abu Mohammad, said he was devastated by the news of the standoff.
“The grand mufti and the Australian National Imam Council condemn this criminal act unequivocally and reiterate that such actions are denounced in part and in whole in Islam,” he said.
“We, along with the wide Australian society, await the results of the investigation about the identity of the perpetrators and their underlying motivations behind this criminal act.”
The #sydneysiege is over, NSW police have confirmed. They could not comment on injuries or fatalities but will have more info soon.
The #sydneysiege is over, NSW police have confirmed. They could not comment on injuries or fatalities but will have more info soon.
Shortly after 2am local time a loud bang was heard from the Lindt Cafe and a group of about six hostages fled the building. Moments later stun grenades and gunfire erupted as officers from the police tactical operations unit carrying assault rifles and wearing body armour entered the building.
Further exchanges continued and police emerged carrying one injured woman. Paramedics and emergency services then brought out three injured people on stretcher trolleys, performing CPR on one as they rushed away.
A bomb disposal robot then entered the building, but Scipione later said no evidence of explosives was found.
Scipione told a media conference on Tuesday morning the siege was “an isolated incident” and the “act of an individual”. The police response had been extremely cautious throughout the day. Scipione said they had believed no one was injured up to that point.
“That changed, [so] we changed our tack,” he said.
He would not comment or speculate on decisions made during the siege or its denouement.
The NSW premier, Mike Baird, said he came to the media conference with “the heaviest of hearts”.
“We have lost some of our own,” he said.
“Sydney has been shamed by a tragedy none of us could imagine,” he said, but added that “we will get through this”.
Both Baird and Scipione praised the police’s action and said they saved many lives.
The prime minister, Tony Abbott said the government’s “thoughts and prayers are with the families of the two deceased hostages, the wounded and the other hostages”.
“I commend the courage and professionalism of the New South Wales Police and other emergency services involved,” he said in a statement.
The Australian cabinet’s national security committee was due to convene on Tuesday morning.
Monis walked into the Lindt cafe on Monday morning shortly before 10am, reportedly carrying a blue sports bag, and took 17 people hostage. Heavily armed police surrounded the cafe and closed off the streets of the central area.
Hostages were made to hold a flag up at the cafe’s window which appeared to bear the shahada, an Islamic affirmation of the oneness of God, reading: “There is no god but the God, Muhammad is the messenger of God.”
The creed is common in the Islamic world and appears on the Saudi Arabian flag, but has been embraced by Islamist groups such as Jabhat al-Nusra and Hizb ut-Tahrir.
Monis was known to the police, having pleaded guilty in 2013 to offences relating to abusive letters he sent to the families of deceased Australian soldiers. He was on bail facing dozens of charges of indecent and sexual assault. He was also implicated in the murder of his former wife.
A fringe figure in Australia’s Muslim community, Monis had been spurned by Shia leaders, who had reportedly urged federal police to investigate the man over his claims to be an ayatollah, or Shia cleric.
The Iranian-born 49-year-old, who apparently converted from Shia Islam to Sunni only last week, was infamously involved in sending “grossly offensive” letters to parents and relatives of Australian victims of terrorism and troops killed in Afghanistan between 2007 and 2009. He unsuccessfully challenged the conviction in the high court last year.
He has also been accused of being an accessory in the killing of his former wife, a charge for which he was on bail.
He told ABC News in 2001 that he fled Australia five years earlier after falling foul of the Iranian regime, which he said had placed his wife and children under house arrest. “I can say they are hostage,” he said at the time.
His former lawyer Manny Conditsis told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation: “This is a one-off random individual. It’s not a concerted terrorism event or act. It’s a damaged goods individual who’s done something outrageous.”
