TheCable

Australian police stormed the cafe where a man identified as Man Haron Monis (pictured) held about 40 people hostage on Monday night (Tuesday morning in Australia), setting the hostages free and killing the hostage taker.

According to CNN, the hostage taker, who was allegedly linked to the brutal murder of an ex-wife had been reported dead by New South Wales police.

Two other persons also died, while four people, including a policeman sustained injuries.

This brought an end to the crisis which led to the shut down of central Sydney for about 16 hours.

Monis known to be affiliated to the Islamic state (IS) had demanded that IS flag be hoisted at the cafe and he holds a phone conversation with Australian prime minister, Tony Abbott.

The negotiation demands were made through hostages who called several media outfit after five of them fled the building.

Earlier, footage from the scene showed those trapped holding a black flag with Arabic inscription which read: “There is no God but God and Mohammed is the prophet of God,” which is different from the flag used by IS.

Andrew Scipione, New South Wales police commissioner, said the hostages were forced to hold a black and white Islamic flag.

Some of the escapees had also reportedly posted messages to social networking sites and the YouTube online video service. The police had urged the media not to show the videos.

The police said Monis, who has a history of crime as an alleged sexual predator, was also known as “Sheikh” Haron.

He was also identified as an Iranian refugee, who received political asylum in Australia in 1996 and was on bail facing a number of charges. In 2013, he reportedly pleaded guilty to writing letters to Australian service members saying he was among “Hitler’s soldiers”.

Abbott, who convened a security meeting over the incident. condemned and described it as an “act of terror on innocent Australian citizens”.

“It is profoundly shocking that innocent people should be held hostage by an armed person claiming political motivation,” he said.

Kathryn Chee, a 25-year-old employee of the café, who was to take on a later shift on Monday, told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), that she was deeply disturbed by the footage showing her colleagues pressed against the window.

“That could be me, right there, standing at that window, standing there, holding that flag, being told not to move,” she said.

“It’s just horrifying.”

Sydney is the state capital of New South Wales and the most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 4.39 million, as at 2011. The cafe is in the centre of Sydney.