Australian PM: Cafe Siege Horrific Wake-Up Call

Local Editor

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott on Thursday admitted Sydney's cafe siege was "an horrific wake-up call" as details emerged of the final minutes of the standoff which left the gunman and two hostages dead.

Abbott has ordered an urgent enquiry into the circumstances surrounding the tragedy and why Haron Monis was not under surveillance given his history of extremism and violence.

The 50-year-old was on bail for a string of charges, including offences and abetting the murder of his ex-wife.

"This has been a horrific wake-up call," Abbott told Macquarie Radio when asked if this was an accident waiting to happen, amid criticism that various authorities failed to act to take Monis off the streets.

He further added: "The tragedy is that this has happened. I mean, this was an atrocity, it may well have been a preventable atrocity, and that's why this swift and thorough review is so important."

Monis, who was well known to authorities but not any counter-terror watch lists, took 17 hostages at a cafe in the heart of Sydney on Monday, unfurling an "ISIL" flag during a 16-hour siege.

He was killed along with two victims -- the cafe's manager, 34, and a 38-year-old mother-of-three -- in a bloody end to the standoff.
Details of why police moved in when they did are sketchy but the father of a hostage who escaped said it was triggered by a group of them deciding they would "not survive until the morning if they did not do something".

Bruce Herat, the lawyer father of Joel Herat, 21, said Monis was awake and agitated and had begun herding the frightened hostages into separate groups.

This group of people were those seen fleeing seconds before heavily-armed stormed the Lindt cafe. Police have so far not commented on the chain of events.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team