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Sydney siege: “Tragic beyond words”

Dec 16, 2014
Police storm the Lindt Cafe in Sydney to end the siege. AAP image

Police storm the Lindt Cafe in Sydney to end the siege. AAP image

It will take time to clarify exactly what happened in Martin Place and why, Prime Minister Tony Abbott says.

Abbott said it was a tragedy that two hostages were killed as the 16-hour siege in Sydney’s CBD came to a bloody end overnight.

Understandably, there was a lot of speculation about just what had occurred.

“It will take time to clarify exactly what happened in Martin Place and why,” Abbott said.

What we do know is the perpetrator was well known to state and commonwealth authorities, he said.

“He had a long history of violent crime, infatuation with extremism and mental instability.”

The gunman at the centre of the Sydney cafe hostage drama is one of three people confirmed dead after a violent end to the 16-hour siege.

He has been named as former Iranian cleric Man Haron Monis.

NSW police say they still don’t know what motivated an “unstable” Monis to take 17 hostages at a popular cafe but admit he had a long criminal history and held extremist views.

Lone gunman Monis walked into the Lindt cafe in the heart of the city just before 10am on Monday, triggering an emergency that lasted 16-and-a-half gruelling hours.

Officers stormed the cafe just after 2am on Tuesday after hearing shots from inside.

NSW Deputy Police Commissioner Catherine Burn has defended the police’s handling of the operation, which also left six people injured, and says authorities are still looking into why Monis took over the cafe.

“We don’t know at this point exactly what his motivations were,” she told reporters in Sydney.

Monis was “well known” to police.

“This is a man who had a serious history of criminal offences and a history of violence,” she said.

“This is a man that we do believe had some extremist views and we also believe that he was unstable.”

As well as the three deaths, two women were taken to hospital with non-life threatening injuries.

A male police officer suffered a non-life threatening wound to his face from gunshot pellets and was taken to hospital.

Another woman has been taken to hospital with a gunshot wound to her shoulder.

A 35-year-old woman was taken to hospital as a precaution.

The crisis, which began about 10am (AEDT) on Monday at the popular Lindt cafe in Martin Place, escalated dramatically about 2am on Tuesday when shots were fired and police stormed the premises.

“Unbelievably overnight we have lost some of our own in an attack we would never thought we would see here in our city,” Premier Mike Baird said at a press conference before 6am.

“I come before you with the heaviest of hearts.”

Baird said the government’s thoughts and prayers were with the innocent victims of an “horrendous vicious attack.”

“I want to say to their family and friends that everyone in NSW stands beside you,” he said.

“My thoughts also remain with those hostages who have been freed.

“They will be provided every support they need in coming days and weeks and months.”

Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione said officers had so far accounted for 17 hostages.

This figures includes the five who escaped on Monday afternoon.

Some had traumatic injuries, some had medical conditions.

Six were uninjured.

“We also have a lone gunman who has been shot and killed and we have a male police officer who has been injured as a result of gunshot wounds to the face,” he said.

“I have talked to that officer. He is in good condition.”

The officer was likely to remain in hospital for some time.

“Not too long, we hope, but he is well and grateful to be alive,” Scipione said.

A police critical incident investigation into the incident which will be overseen by the Professional Standards Command.

“We need to find out what’s happened here and inside that cafe,” Scipione said.

“It’s not time to speculate or develop theories.”

Scipione echoed Baird’s comments, saying he could only imagine the terror the hostages had gone through.

“They’re very brave people who in many cases were just buying a cup of coffee and they got caught up in this dreadful affair,” he said.

“We should reflect on their courage, the courage that they displayed during the many hours in that room. They had to make decisions, hard decisions, and our heart goes out to them.”

Scipione acknowledged the grief of the families of the two hostage who had died.

“The pain they’ve been through, not knowing what was happening to their loved ones and not being able to help them,” he said.

Just after 2am on Tuesday morning, a man in a white shirt ran from the cafe with his arms raised, dropped to the ground on police orders and was escorted to safety.

Minutes later, two more men and two women raced outside and were directed away by police.

Their escape was followed by rapid gunfire as heavily-armed officers stormed the cafe.

A second volley of shots erupted before the cafe filled with police and paramedics.

Ambulances rushed the most seriously injured to hospitals around the city.

At 2.40am, NSW Police tweeted: “Sydney siege is over.”

It was a quick and furious end to a drama that had the city centre locked down inside an intense security cordon.

– AAP

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