REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, SYDNEY -- Three people are dead after a hostage drama in a Sydney cafe ended in heavy gunfire as security forces stormed the building, Australian police said on Tuesday. Local media reports said the hostage-taker was among those killed.
A 50-year-old man, a 38-year-old woman and a 34-year-old man had died, New South Wales police said. Two people were taken to hospital with non-life threatening injuries, while a police officer was being treated after being hit in the face with gunshot pellets. A woman was being treated for a gunshot wound to the shoulder, police added.
Heavy gunfire and blasts from stun grenades filled the air shortly after 2 am local time (10 am ET on Monday). Moments earlier at least six people believed to have been held captive managed to flee the scene after several loud bangs were heard coming from the cafe.
Medics tried to resuscitate at least one person after the raid and took away several injured people on stretchers, said a Reuters witness at the scene in downtown Sydney. Bomb squad members moved in, searching for explosives.
The operation began shortly after a police source named the gunman as Man Haron Monis, an Iranian refugee and self-styled sheikh facing multiple charges of sexual assault as well as being an accessory to murder. He was also found guilty in 2012 of sending offensive and threatening letters to families of eight Australian soldiers killed in Afghanistan, as a protest against Australia's involvement in the conflict, according to local media reports. Although he was known to the authorities, security experts said preventing attacks by people acting alone could be difficult.
The siege cafe is in Martin Place, a pedestrian strip popular with workers on a lunch break, which was revealed as a potential location for the thwarted beheading. In the biggest security operation in Sydney since a bombing at the Hilton Hotel killed two people in 1978, major banks closed their offices in the central business district and people were told to avoid the area.
Muslim leaders urged calm. The Australian National Imams Council condemned "this criminal act unequivocally" in a joint statement with the Grand Mufti of Australia.
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