Terror link to gun fight in Brighton
Islamic State is claiming responsibility for the Melbourne hostage attack that left the gunman and another man dead.
A major counter-terrorism investigation was under way last night following a hostage crisis in which a paroled gunman and another man were killed and three police officers were wounded at a block of serviced apartments in Melbourne.
Police gunned down the hostage-taker after he held a woman for at least two hours and another man’s body was found at the entrance to the apartments in bayside Brighton.
Senior police sources confirmed last night that the incident was being treated as a terrorist attack unless proven otherwise.
• Brighton hostage siege: live coverage continues here
The Australian confirmed that the hostage-taker, whose body was riddled with bullet wounds, was known to counter-terrorism police but that investigators were open-minded about whether terrorism was the trigger for the shootout. The fact a counter-terrorism source said the gunman was on parole will, however, raise serious questions and put pressure on the Victorian government.
Islamic State this morning claimed responsibility for the attack, blaming it on Australia’s membership in the US-led coalition. “The attack in Melbourne, Australia was carried out by a soldier of the Islamic State in response to the call for targeting the subjects of the coalition states,” the group’s Amaq news agency said, according to a report by Reuters.
It is understood that the man had been known to security services for nearly a decade, having first come to the attention of authorities during the 2009 terrorist plot to attack Holsworthy Army barracks in Sydney’s southwest.
Victoria Police are treating the siege as a terrorist incident.
“We are treating it as a terror attack,” Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton told Channel Seven.
“We believe that this person was there with those sorts of intentions, albeit we don’t know whether it was something planned at this stage.”
The Australian has been told the man had been a “peripheral figure” in the Neath plot, which led to three men being convicted and sentenced to long jail terms. Two of the men were Somalis who had trained with al-Shabab, a Somali-based Islamist terrorist group. The third man was Lebanese.
Deputy Commissioner Andrew Crisp said the man stormed out of the apartment block and shot three police about 6pm.
Mr Crisp said that a woman had called triple-0 after 4pm declaring that there was a “hostage situation’’ and a “deceased male”.
The volley of shots in which the hostage-taker was killed was heard across the suburb about 20 minutes after two unidentified callers to the Seven Network’s Melbourne newsroom referred to the hostage drama.
The first caller, an apparently distraught woman, told a station staff member at 5.41pm: “This is the Brighton hostage.’’
The Seven Network said that a man then declared: “This is for IS. This is for al-Qa’ida.’’
Mr Crisp said the identity of the hostage-taker had not been confirmed, and he did not know the identity of callers to the station, but he said counter-terrorism police were involved in the investigation.
An hour after the drama ended, police said in a statement: “Police are investigating whether the incident is terrorism related.’’
Mr Crisp was cautious about whether terrorism was the core motive for the gun battle, declaring: “It’s early days.’’
Malcolm Turnbull was briefed on the incident last night.
Special Operations Group officers had surrounded the Bay Street apartment block in Melbourne’s bayside district, 12km southeast of Melbourne’s CBD.
Mr Crisp indicated the gun battle was triggered by the hostage-taker, adding that initial reports of an explosion at the Bay Street apartments had not been confirmed.
It was possible, he said, the alleged explosion was in fact gunfire. He said two of the police were taken to hospital and a third was treated at the scene.
Police said in a statement that they safely rescued a woman who was being held “against her will’’ in the apartment.
“Another man was earlier located deceased with a gunshot wound in the lobby of the serviced apartment building just after 4pm,” police said.
Mr Crisp added: “We’re extremely concerned about terrorism … We’re very attune to the threat of terrorism in Melbourne and Victoria.”
Police did not have contact with the offender, who had not made any threats or demands before the confrontation. The relationship between the offender, the hostage, aged in her 20s, and the dead man is not known but some reports said the woman worked at the apartments, which are advertised at less than $140 a night.
Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton and Australian Federal Police commander Jennifer Hurst were forced to cancel their attendance at a Muslim community dinner at Parliament House in Melbourne last night.
The rapid end to the hostage drama came days after a long delay in police boarding a Malaysia Airlines jet at Melbourne airport caught up in a threatened hostage crisis. Police were widely criticised for taking about 90 minutes to board the jet and detain the man who allegedly had tried to enter the plane’s cockpit.
Late last month Islamic State urged followers to take hostages, suggesting victims could be lured with fake ads on Gumtree and eBay. Its propaganda magazine also suggested asking for applicants for fake jobs and advertising bogus apartments for rent.
Additional reporting: Pia Akerman, Simon Bensen, Simone Fox Koob, Greg Brown
With agencies
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