[music] >> hello there and welcome to the news hour. live from our head quarters in doha. the top story this hour, hostages held 16 hours in a cafe in sydney. the battle in libya. major disruptions in del jim as labor union--in belgium labor

unions strike. >> we begin this news hour in australia's largest city sydney, where the time is now 2:00 in the morning. a hostage take who are has been named abeen--a hostage taker who has been named . >> the new south wales parliament was evacuated as well as the supreme court building.

other major buildings nearby include the world famous sydney opera house around 200 meters away. we have live pictures coming to us from sydney. the police are guarding that entrance to the cafe. andrew thomas has the latest. >> they're saying that the name of the hostage taker is man haron monis. he is an iranian immigrant to australia. he has in the past been convicted of sending hate letters to families of dead soldiers killed in afghanistan. more recently he has been charged with the murder of his ex-wife, and he has also been charged with a number of sexual crimes that date back about a deck kate. now i say it's unconfirmed as to

whether this man is the man holding hostages inside the cafe in the center of sydney, but this is what local media in australia are disclosing the police source as saying. the background of the story, the siege, and the event of monday here in sydney. this woman is running from the scene of a hostage taking in sydney. a number of people have escaped from the cafe where they have been held near martin place station. but others remain trapped inside, and have been all day. offices nearby and a television station opposite of the cafe were evacuated as the police moved in to the city square. it's prime minister has described the hostage taker as politically motivated. >> it is profoundly shocking

that innocent people should be held hostage by an armed person claiming political motivation. >> here one of the hostages who escaped is taken away by police. the information the escaped hostages provide may be useful to the security force who is are working to get all the other people out safety. >> our plan, our own goal tonight, and for as long as this takes is to get those people who are currently caught in that building out to safety. >> police arrived on motorcycles and on foot. a woman was selling them tha --she was telling them that she meant to go in to the cafe, but that the sliding glass doors were shut. she meaning to, but she saw a man with a blue bag and what she thought was a shotgun.

>> these pictures appear to show a man wearing a bandanna and carrying a rucksack. there was a flag in the window stating "there is only one god and mohammed is his messenger. >> the commissioner and i also had a conference call, and they felt confident in support in what the police are doing, and we thanked them for it. we are in this together. >> many people have left the area city blocks around martin place have been cordoned off and there was a heavy security presence across sydney dbc. they say they're prepared to wait this siege out as long as it takes. they're absolutely determined that it will have a peaceful resolution. they say this is an one-of situation in martin place.

they are sure there are no other assistants they have to be worried about. they say they have it contained, they have it under control. and they say there are no injuries inside where the hostage is taking place, and they will make sure that continues. >> what considerations will hostage makers need to make? robin, good to have you with us. in this case the sydney police are happy to go slowly, and resolve this without violence. is that slowly-slowly approach th the best one here. >> yes, that is the best approach. the hostage negotiator will establish himself as the one man that the hostage taker can speak

to, and gradually make friends with him. and gradually wear him down and try to convince him to surrender, he has made his statement. he has achieved his objective. that it is now time to go home. an awful lot of criminals in the modern world are trying to give themselves credibility by doing exactly that. this man has a criminal record. he is--he has been convicted before, and the chances are he has got himself angry. highways got himself in to a difficult situation. he has not thought ahead. he has not thought about how he'll get himself out of it. >> is there a deadline set here?

we've been out 16 hours, and presumably the longer it goes on it also takes a toll on the hostages. is there a balancing act here? >> as he gets tired he could make mistakes. he could get more angry. as far as the hostages are concerned, they're going to get tired. they're going to get impatient, and some of them might be inclined to take matters in their own hands. it's in everybody's best interest as the police have stated for the police to take their time, resolve the matter

slowly, carefully, and with consideration. >> just to play devil's advocate. you said that he's allowing himself to be scene. he's not heavily armed. why not bring it to a quick end. there was a sniper and he was standing by the window. >> it's not the job of the police to execute people. it's their job to protect life. and that man's life, it's their duty to protect just like everybody else. if they see that he's about to kill somebody, that's an option they may take. however, shooting through heavy plate glass can effect accuracy. but that is an option that they would bear in mind, but it's not one that they would choose first. there are a lot of political ramifications to actually shooting someone in that way. >> robin, we heard earlier that

five hostages had either been released or escaped 37 we're not sure what the story is there from the cafe. we're hearing that five more hostages have made their way out of the cafe. again, not clear under what circumstances they're leaving the cafe. presumably those people are going to be immediately debriefed by police who will be trying to find out as much information as possible from them. >> that's right. any information that those people have about what sort of weapons he's carrying, what's in the blue bag of his. the language he's speaking. his beliefs, his intentions, that will be extraordinarily important for anybody trying to mount an assault. it will also be invaluable to hostage negotiators who can use that information to get inside the man's mind to try to establish a rapport with him, and get on his side.

>> why would the police not be releasing more information? we've only had very sketchy details, for example, how many hostages are inside. why is it--why are police being quite cagey about information like that? >> well, one of the biggest risks to any kind of situation like this developing is world media. those involved in this has ac mandariaccess to telephones and media, and they need to limit that as much as possible. >> you say an iranian immigrant. he has various charges against him. does that change how police negotiate negotiator's

advantage in some sort of way? >> i think it gives some idea of his personality and the level he's working at. he's working at a criminal level. not a political level. he's not his skated. he has gone in there alone. he does not seem to be part of a bigger organization. all that history will give them information that will be useful in the coming hours. >> robin, thank you very much, indeed, for that interesting to speak with you about this issue. robin, live for us from london. these are live shots coming from sydney. this is outside of the lindt cafe where the hostages have been held. you can see the situation wearing heavy on them there. let's have a look at those

pictures. this is what we saw just a short time ago. those people just came running out very quickly. they were fielded by the place and now they have been taken away to a debriefing room so the police can get information about what exactly was going on in there. that follows the earlier release of five hostages. again, not sure whether they were voluntarily released by the hostage taker, whether that was the release of negotiations, or whether they actually escaped. we will be speaking to our correspondent live on the scene in just a short while. >> we go to a lawyer and community advocate. we spoke with her from sydney a short time ago and asked her about concerns about backlash against the muslim community. >> the incidents that are unfolding in sydney today obviously have rattled everybody, and the strain on the

community along side the rest of the strained community they're totally shocked and horrified at what's taking place. our immediate thoughts are with the hostages today and loved ones who have endured so much all right in the last 10 to 12 hours, and obviously facing a very uncertain night ahead of them. the muslim community, they have been horrified. several statements have been issued on behalf of the grand mufti as a lewded t alluded to. it needs to be said over and over again that the acts of individuals, the criminal activities of individuals are no way indicative of the great population. so our thoughts and prayers go out to the hostages and their families and friends who are

waiting around, and we're praying for them and hoping for a peaceful resolution. >> let's get to other news now. libya's biggest oil terminal has been shut down due to violence. fighting has also intensified in tunisia. >> smoke ices in western libya. the sound of airstrikes echos for kilometers. the battle is fierce near the border of tunisia. the group aligned but not formerly sided with former general haftar. on the other side, libya dawn broadly associated with the tripoli-based government. >> today we lost 14 fighters and more than 23 injured in the airstrikes by the enemy. that they even targeted a residential area in a quarry. they managed to repel their

forces back. >> with the country awash with powerful militia, the rival governments in tripoli and tribuk, at the heart of the fight is oil. they're advancing on the country's biggest oil terminal. fighting in this oil-rich region has forced other terminals to close. >> the attack on the oil region clearly shows that libya dawn wants to be fully in charge of the oil forces that they need in order to sponsor their terrorist operations just like other terrorist groups have done in other parts of the world. >> reporter: the group has established a council of the city. now plans to offer help to libya dawn fighters in bengahzi.

al jazeera. >> just to take you back to the scenes in sydney, this is what happened a short while ago. five hostages came running out of the cafe with their hands up straight into the arms of waiting police. there seems to have been activity around the cafe. again, these are earlier pictures of these live pictures. coming to us from outside of that cafe in sydney. there seems to be a lot of movement outside. we're not sure if the release of the hostages mean something is in the pipeline. we hear signers going of sirens going off there.

details are very sketchy about what is happening. details have been sketchy all day. this has been going on for 16 hours now. we still don't know how many hostages are inside. you can see members of the police and emergency services now running towards the cafe. this is the early hours of the morning. the whole of the area has been cordoned off. this is business districts of sydney. more hostages coming out now. people helping this person, who needs help to walk. those clicking sounds that you can hear in the background are

cameras going off. lots of media, of course. that lady being taken out to safety. let's talk to andrew thomas, who is on the phone. we're going to stay with these pictures to see if we can see what's going on. it looks like someone else is receiving help there from the paramedics. for emergency services. it's hard to make out what is going on. certainly more people leaving that hostage situation in the cafe. andrew thomas if you're with us. what is your understanding of what's happening. there seems to be a flurry of activity in the last five or ten minutes. >> five minutes, indeed. we've had a number of these bangs, and then rapid bangs, probably explosions from the beginning, and then a round of gunfire. certainly sounded like that. in fact, in two separate rounds, the first one being five minutes ago. two big bangs sounded like a

burst. and then two or so minutes later two loud bangs, and then a loud burst of what sounded like gunfire. i'm standing 50 feet from martin place on macquarie street. in just a couple of momen moments two ambulances are stormed down the road away from the scene. obviously something is going on right now in martin place. the siege has been going on for 15 hours or more now seems to be reaching a head. >> we can see people, men in blue carrying bags rushing up. they look like paramedics or rescue teams. one or two of the hostages in the cafe, obviously there are people in need of help. >> well, you're seeing pictures that are from cameras that are

being kept 100 meters away from the square. we don't have a direct line of sight to the square. i'm hearing more than i'm seeing. i hear explosions and rapid gunfire. we know there were a number of hostages inside that cafe as far as we were aware. only five had escaped here. we have confirmation--we don't know if they escaped or were released, but earlier on monday five people were released. it's quite likely that some of those inside may need medical treatment. >> it does look like that, andrew. at least two, maybe three stretchers have been taken in, and there seems to be a lot of activity. people going in and out of the

cafe. i hesitate to say that it looks as show this has progressed, but there does seem to be a lot of activity. were you getting--in fact, were you getting a lot of information from the police during the duration of this hostage taking? we didn't even know how many hostages were inside the cafe. >> no, we didn't. and the police are being very cautious about the information they're releasing. i've seen another ambulance who has gone off towards the central city hospital is. i have no idea who might be inside the ambulance. saying that information remained by the police has been very limited, very careful not to reveal what they know, or how many people might be inside that cafe. indeed, how many hostage takers, possibly plural, might have been taken.

on the face it seems very fundamental. >> we're just looking at pictures now. if i can describe these pictures to our viewers. the stretchers have come out of the cafe. there are people on them. at least three stretchers i've seen with people on them coming out of the cafe. more and more people milling around the place in different form. some of them not wearing bulletproof vests. a lot of people from various services. we have the paramedics, the police rescue there. still no indication as to whether this is over or not. i'm not sure that you're getting any more information than we are.

>> i'm afraid i'm not. but i'm sure there are people who have seened assault because this is still minutes old. you're seeing pictures of people being brought out as well. if they didn't know exactly how many people were there in the start, i'm not sure that they can say that it's over as an operation. obviously they're bringing people out. they have to see who the people are. are they hostages? hostage takers? all these questions, of course-- >> absolutely. too early to tell. look, we'll get you on the phone to sources and find out what is happening. just to recap to our viewers in the last few minutes, after a period of relative calm there has been a flurry of activity. we've seen paramedics going in, taking some hostages out.

we've seen stretchers going in and people coming out on those stretchers. it now seems that that flow of activity, 20, 30 people milling around that cafe, they looked like most of them have now cleared the scene. it's gone back down to a period of relative calm. not entirely sure what it means except we know that more hostages have left that situation. let's bring in robin, who was with us earlier. former british hostage negotiator. i find it difficult to make judgments on what's happened, but given that we've seen a flurry of activity. we've seen stretchers going in and then coming out with presumably hostages who are now receiving medical treatment. this looks like it has moved up a notch. >> yes, it looks like an assault was mounted by the police, and they've resolved the situation. they wouldn't be allowing all those other agencies to go in there at this time.

if that were the case. we can see someone giving chest compressions to someone on the floor, and a possibility that is the hostage taker. if they've--there were a few small explosions a few shots, which gives the impression that it was controlled and contained and overred with very, very quickly. if that is the case, then--and there are no hostage casualties, then they are to be congratulated. >> we have other news, it's reported that heavily-armed police has stormed the cafe presume ply if they've stormed the cafe they have done so where they thought they could bring it to an end. we don't know the outcome, but it seems with all intents and

purposes that this hostage taking may be over. >> had they done nothing they would have been open to ridicule. they did something. if they were going to be wrong they were going to be wrong in a positive way. and they've mounted an assault, and god willing then everyone who was captured there. >> one of the hostage takers have been taken alive or dead. do police learn from mistakes? do they review this? do they go back over this in how they handled it? >> well, every operation of this nature has to be reviewed very thoroug thoroughly after the fact. why decisions were made? who did what?

was it successful? what can we do to improve it in the future. what steps can we take to prevent other situations like this developing in the future? >> robin, can i interrupt you. there are live pictures we can see--the picture has moved away slightly now, but there is a robot a wheeled robot with an arm that looks like it's about to be deployed into the cafe. that's to look for what, boobie traps, explosives? >> that's controlled by the man in green heavy body armor. he's th sending in the robot to look through the man's bag, anything that may have been placed insit to you. insitu. they'll go in to clear the area. >> the fact that it's prepared

to go in, does that suggest to you that the hostage situation is over? >> from what we've seen in the last few minutes it does look as though the hostage situation is over. that could change. but as i say the biggest indication is the fact that they're allowing the other agencies, the paramedics, the rescue people to approach the building, and to get involved. that would indicate very clearly that the threat has been removed of the actual hostage taker. now they're taking very sensible precautions to make sure there are no other device there is before they allow other people to go in. >> we heard a series of explosions before there is a flurry of activity. we heard--we're just looking at pictures now. we can hear gunfire and hostages running out of the cafe. an operation like this where at least the police choose to go in

news be a very finely calibrated decision given that there are innocent civilians at risk. >> yes, the best explanation for that is that they believe that the lives of the hostages were under immediate threat. that the hostage taker was highly likely to kill somebody in the coming memberships. because of that they took that decision. that would be the most justifiable reason to carry out an operation of this nature. the noise that you heard sounds like it was semiautomatic fire from machine pistols. the explosion would have been suppression grenades designed to get everybody down on the floor and keep still while the assault team carried out their mission. >> let's have a look at these pictures, armed police outside of the cafe.

yes, you can see them throwing in stun grenades, smoke grenades. a lot of gunfire going on there. and these are live pictures after that. robin. we're talking about time limits before australian police say they're happy to let this go on as necessary. there has to be some consideration on when you bring it to an end because the hostages themselves are a factor in all this. >> yes, there is a factor. they're going start taking matters in their own hands, get frustrated. there will be tough macho guys in there as well looking for an opportunity to maybe mound their own type of assault and put their own lives at risk, and those are the hostages. it's fragile. but as i've said before, if the commander on the ground believes that people's lives who are

hostages are under immediate threat then he has no choice but to mount an assault in belief that will give him the best result, and it looks at the moment as if that result has been good. >> it must be very psychological game for the--well not game--that's a wrong word. but very psychological for the police negotiator who has to weigh up all these types of things. >> yes, there is an intense amount of training that goes on. it's psychological training. it's designed to establish rapport, friendship with the hostage taker in order to break down his result, to persuade him that he has achieved his objectives, and he has nothing to gain from hurting people as the situation moves forward.

>> robin stay there for us for just a moment. we know that police have stormed the cafe. paramedics have been holding hostages inside that cafe in martin place in sydney. you can see on your screen, to the left of your screen the bomb disposal vehicle, the robotic arm, which is being remote controlled by the bomb squad in the heavy green-armored jacket here. they are now being sent in to the cafe to make sure that no explosives are left behind or boobie traps rigged by the hostage taker. we don't have any information about what has happened to the hostage taker. whether he has been taken liv alive or dead. we learned that he was an iranian immigrant with a whole

range of charge against him dealing with accessory to assaults to dealing with weapons charges. this is a siege that has been going on for 16 hours now. it does look as though it has been brought into its final stages. let's speak with andrew thompson. what do you hear about what is happening? >> i'm hearing more than i'm seeing. 150 meters along macquarie street. you can see another police vehicle driving down macquarie street. there have been ambulances and sirens. i think four have passed me in the last four minutes. lots of activity. what we saw first was five apparent hostages running from

the cafe. then almost immediately after that a couple of loud bangs, a couple of loud explosions and then some rapid firing, potentially gunfire immediately after that. three minutes later, another two explosions and then another burst of what sounded like rapid gunfire. and you're seeing pictures, i believe, from martin place that shows some of these hostages brought out of the cafe. some of them on stretchers. you're seeing more than i am, frankly. even though i'm close to martin place the police have held them back, 150 meters back from the entrance of that pedestrian square. the siege does seem to be reaching its final stage, and it seems that the police have mounted an attack. if not over, it's certainly under way. >> it's been a long police operation. they are very much at pains to try and resolve this peacefully,

non-violently. they don't want loss of life. it's difficult to know what triggered the police operation, heavily armed police storming the cafe presumably they felt at that point they had no choice. but throughout the day the police have been negotiating. they made contact with this man very early on. >> they did. in the few hours of this siege beginning 9:45, within a few hours the police negotiators had made contact with the hostage taker. and that was apparently on going throughout monday. the remere of new south wales said sydney goers should go about their business. those who work in the area of martin place should be working from home.

he was talking as if this siege would still be going on tuesday. if that was a rouge to show that nothing was planned overnight, and that this siege would be allowed to carry on, in a low-level, non-violent level was unclear. the police were prepared to wait this out, and make sure that they could reach a peaceful resolution. >> just getting very few lines coming in from that hostage situation. a.p. reporting that two people appear to be injured. if they count the number of people on stretchers it could be more than that, it could be three or four that we saw coming out on stretchers as police swarm around that cafe, let's talk more about the actual hostage taker, andrew. he was named a few hours ago as

man monis. who seems to have a history of violence. >> that's right. a 50-year-old man who had come to australia originally from iran. in 2007-08-09, he was charged and convicted of sending letters to families of australian soldiers who had been killed in afghanistan. i don't know the exact charge, but he was charged for sending those letters and he was convicted of that in more recent times, he has faced serious charges. hhe was out on bail for that alleged crime and charged recently with sexual offenses that date back for a decade. if this is the man who is the hostage taker in the cafe, i'm not sure that we've had official

confirmation, certainly there are widespread reports that this is he, he has had a long history with police in australia and the judiciary in australia. if it is him, the question is how he was able to walk around brazenly and mount this type of attack in the middle of sidney cbd. why he wasn't in prison or being held white awaiting trial for the things he was charged with, or why he wasn't being marched more carefully. how could he stroll into to a cafe and hold so many people hostage for so long. >> there will be very serious questions how he could do that. there was also a lot of talk that this could be politically motivated. this is something that is worr worrying the muslim community of australia. their words that there could be a backlash against them.

>> there is a backlash in the city of brisbane and melbourne as well and speculation of what those terror raids were mounted to prevent has talked about the potential attack here on australian soil there was even one alleged plot, this was never confirmed by the police, but it made the rounds in the media that there was chatter that there was someone seen this morning place, and they would behead them in front of people's phone cameras. that has never been confirmed by

authorities, but that was the thought of attacks. and then of course, the beheading videos of the middle east. there have been australians who have traveled to fight with the islamic state. to fight with isil iraq and syria. those videos have made the media ear. concerned that that--i--what they don't want is another backlash against muslims because of the overwhelming majority of muslim dos not support attacks along these lines at all. they're as disgusted and flabbergasted as everybody else is that this is going on in their city. they don't know what political motivation there might be, and

political terms could be a broad source. it could mean by someone being directed by someone somewhere, or being inspired by someone. we'll learn more in the coming hours and days and still a very opaque situation. >> thank you for that for the moment. just stand by. i'm sure as the next few hours unfold we will get more information about what happened. let's give you a--let's listen to this first. that's what happens roughly about 20 minutes, half hour ago. you can hear the explosions. we see the hostages running out. armed police running in. lots of gunfire, and a flurry of rescue people going in. stretchers going in, and several

hostages being brought out on stretchers suggesting that they were injured or traumatized. you can now see bomb disposals will going in. they sent in the bomb rover, who is now checking what is going on. let's give a rehab of events throughout the morning. this is a hostage situation that started at quarter to 10:00 in the morning in sydney's martin place. this is lindt cafe. it was initially thought to be an armed robbery. but that was ruled out. and they began to broadcast images of hostages in the cafe with their arms in the air. shortly after that a flag was held up with white arabic script written ton. that is something that has deeply worried the muslim community in sydney.

there has been a backlash and some suggestions this is a politically motivated hostage situation. let's bring you up-to-date with the events throughout the day. 16 hours this hostage situation has been going on. >> this woman is running from the scene of a hostage taking in sydney. and a number of people have escaped from the cafe where they were being held near martin place station. but others remained trapped inside, and have been all day. officers nearby and television station opposite were evacuated as police moved in to the central sydney square. all those specific motivate have not been described publicly. >> this is a very disturbing incident. it's profoundly shocking that innocent people should be held

hostage by an armed person claiming political motivation. >> here one of the hostages who have escaped have been taken by police. the information they supply may be useful as security forces work to get everybody else successful. >> i our plan. our only goal tonight and for as long as this takes is to get those people who are currently caught out of the building. >> it all started during early morning rush hour. >> a woman called the police, and police arrived very quickly. she was telling them that she had gone to go in to the cafe, and the automatic glass sliding doors that allow you in to the cafe had been disabled and shut. she first thought the cafe was closed, then she thought something was going on inside. she called the police anded to they will she had seen a man with a blue bag and what she

thought was a shotgun. >> at one point a flag is held up in the cafe's window. on it is a statement in a belief of islam with a statement that reads," there is only one god, and mohammed is his merger." me. >> we are in this together. many. >> many people have left the area. center areas around martin place have been cordoned off and there is a heavy police presence in the area. >> what can you tell us? >> reporter: just in the last minute the police here in the new south wales confirmed that the siege is over, in their words. it has reached a conclusion. there are some reports that at least two of the people involved

in the ending of this siege whether inside the cafe or outside, they are saved to be serious gunshot wounds. we don't have information on that yet. the latest we have confirmed by police here in sydney is that the siege is now over. >> i suppose we have no information as to what has happened in the hostage taker? >> we don't. again, we're hearing reports on local media that i cannot remotely verify at the moment. they may be one of those people who is said to have suffered through that gunshot wound. >> so just to confirm, the police are confirming in the last couple of minutes that that siege is over, and that andrew, this is an operation that has been going on for, what, 16 hours.

it started during quite a busy time in the morning in sydney. >> that's right. more than 16 hours ago now. just over 16 hours ago. the morning peak as people go in to their offices, picking up coffee, this shop is a popular coffee shop right in the middle of sydney's cbd. this is when the siege began, 9:45 in the morning sydney time. there was a quiet period, frankly, for the last half hour ago for the previous six or seven hours where the streets have been very quiet. the state premiere had done a state conference saying that people should continue on their regular morning hours.

we don't know of course if the state premiere knew differently, whether he genuinely expected it to go on. but there was rapid gunfire and explosions and it is over. we'll bring you information on injuries and other information as we get it. at the moment the information is still pretty limited. this scare, 150 meters from where i stood up the road at the traffic light, although we're very close, i'm afraid i don't have a direct line of sight. the television cameras that you are seeing from inside the square itself is giving you the best idea of what is going on in martin place right now. >> andrew thomas, he has been following the hostage taking video for the whole day confirming the police have now officially said that the siege is over. live pictures coming to us from

the scene. you can see paramedic stretcher on the right-hand side of the screen, heavily armed officers on the left hand of the screen. there seem to be on alert, but waiting for some kind of all clear or go ahead. we know that a bomb rover robot has gone in to the cafe trying to make sure that everything is safe. let's speak to robin, a former british special air service officer and hostage negotiator. the police have confirmed that the siege is over, and it ended very dramatically. robin, can you hear us in the doha studio? >> yes, i can hear you. >> i was suggesting it ended

very dramatically it's not clear whether it was expecter not to end like that, but i guess the negotiator or the police on the scene took the decision that they had to go in. >> yes, clearly somebody felt the life was in imminent danger, and they needed to make a decision and under such circumstances make a positive decision has got to be the best thing to do people are going to die if you do nothing, so it's best to do something and try to get a good result. from what we've seen it looks like a small team assaulted the building. it appears that they have eliminated the hostage taker, and the hostages have been rescued. what is not clear is how many casualties have been taken. the amount of noise that came across during that assault most of that noise will have been

created by distractions by stun agree nateed that were there to make people get their heads down and believe they were being shot at. there could be communication that there was a lot of fun fire, and there may have been only a few hounds fired. >> we're seeing quite a few personnel in heavily armored green padded uniforms. obviously bomb disposal squad. is this a real concern after a situation like this, that there may be explosives at the scene of the hostage taking? >> they'll go in and make sure that other agencies can clear the area. the worst scenario now is for somebody to hurry and then go in to a building and then find yourself with another casualty. these are procedures that are

laid down to make sure that casualty numbers are kept to a minimum. everybody does the right thing slowly and sensebly, and you can get a very good result and spoil it by rushing in at the last moment. >> and you're a hostage negotiator, you're trained as a hostage negotiator. how tricky is it trying to get hostage taker to talk to you, and to tell you what he wants, and to try and gain some degree of trust? >> well, what you do is you put yourself between him and the authorities that he wishes to speak to. so you're the man in the middle. if you limit his communications to you, he becomes dependent upon you. that dependency allows you to form a rapport, to create a sense of friendship with that individual. he needs you.

you need him, and you become his ostensible friend. you're the middle man who helps to achieve his objective. >> fascinating, robin. thank you very much for that. speaking to us live from london. just to update you on the latest lines coming from sydney south wales, the police confirm the siege is over. two people are reported to have suffered serious gunshot wounds. it's not confirmed if anyone is dead. let's go to a reuters reporter in sydney. they're joining us on the phone now. that happened extremely suddenly. there was a huge barrage of shots and hostages coming out. >> yes, good morning. very quickly. we heard a loud bang.

it sounded to be police gunfire. we hear another flash bang and then another round of police gunfire. there is one attacker and we cannot confirm who that is. >> are you getting any information about the hostage taker? >> not yet. >> is there any confirmation of who he was? we heard reports that he was an iranian immigrant, and a name has been mentioned, but is it official? >> i believe we have confirmed the name of the suspect, but i'm on ground and i cannot confirm

the identify. >> and this is closely watched by australia and around the world. how much disruption was this causing to this particular area in sydney? >> they've shut down this particular area, and evacuated the upper half, as i'm sure you aware is an iconic venue in sydney. it was a disruption to the public, who are understandably upset. >> yes, very busily place. very busy cafe. there will be a lot of speculation and a lot of investigation as to how this happened, and what this hostage taker wanted.

>> indeed. to speculate at the moment there is a lot of rumor and conjectu conjecture, we're not able to confirm anything at the moment. we're not even sure why he chose this target. it seems to be an obscure target. but it's close to the australian central bank and australian tv networks. maybe that's the reason. we'll have to wait and see. >> where are you now and what are you seeing? we've seen an emergency rescue vehicle pull up. >> i'm actually seeing what you're seeing right now. >> there seems to be a lot of activity around this cafe. clearly it's not been cleared for anyone to go in there. they're still looking for explosives. we saw a bomb robot going in there earlier. has that come out?

>> yes, that definitely seems to be what i'm seeing. i believe they have evacuated all the hostages. i cannot confirm that, but i am seeing a bomb disposal officer, and a potential bomb robot there. >> any final number on how many hostages there were. that is something that the police are cagey about throughout the day. >> it was difficult to test as we saw five hostages leave the cafe. there were a number of hostages taken out on hospital trolleys, and there could be as many as ten or perhaps more. i'm not in position to confirm that number. >> colin. thank you very much, indeed. that was colin on the scene reuters reporter there in sydney just giving us an update on what's going on. the police rescue vehicle in

front of the main camera in martin place, which is in front of the cafe. as colin was describing we've seen a number of hostages coming out on stretchers, and someone was given cpr. it is clear that there are injuries and we have reports that at least two people have suffered gunshot wounds. we don't know who they are. the hostage taker is among them. it looks like injuries were sustained during that final police operation on the cafe. heavily armed police storming that cafe and releasing the hostages, and the police declaring a short while ago that that siege is over. so the final scenes there at the cafe in martin place paramedics

and police on the scene currently checking the cafe for any remains of explosives. they sent in a robot to check whether anything has been left lined before they declare the scene clear. if you're just joining us ea here on al jazeera, we're reporting on its hostage situation in sydney, australia.