2 Hostages and Assailant are Dead in Siege at Sydney Cafe
Heavily armed police officers ended a hostage siege in Sydney early Tuesday, storming a downtown cafe where an armed man who was said to be a self-proclaimed sheikh had held employees and customers for more than 16 hours.
The New South Wales Police said in a statement early Tuesday that the hostage-taker and two hostages died during the confrontation and that four other people were wounded.
Live television images of the scene showed intense flashes of gunfire and loud concussions as police officers raced into the building with weapons drawn about 2:10 a.m. local time, followed later by medics with stretchers.
Just before the police entered the building, at least six hostages were seen running from the cafe. The police said there were 17 hostages in all.
The police statement reporting the deaths identified the hostage taker as “a 50-year-old man” but did not give his name. Earlier, the police confirmed reports that the hostage-taker was Man Haron Monis, an Iranian-born man around 50 with a criminal record who called himself Sheikh Haron.
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http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/16/world/asia/sydney-australia-hostages.html?emc=edit_na_20141215
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