>> she could prove what she was saying. >>♪ crack in the system an 16 hour siege at an australian cafe ends. at least two people were injured. local immediate has named the hostage taking as man haran monis, a man known to police. welcome to al jazeera. welcome to our headquarters in doha. also coming up on the program, a battle in bolivi libya.

fighters die at the border of tunisia. and south sudan one year on, we report from a city slowly recovering after a civil war that killed thousands. >> we start this news hour in australia's largest city sydney. where the time is 4:00 in the morning on tuesday. police say 16-hour hostage crisis is now over. in the last few minutes they stormed the cafe in sydney central business district where an armed man was holding several people hostage. these are live pictures coming to us live from sydney. >> reporter: hostages take the moment and run for their lives. moments later police stormed the central sydney cafe. one officer appears to throw a stun grenade.

in the crack what was either gunfire or explosions. per madics were already there and quickly ran towards the building. one woman could be seen carried out. the seen began monday morning rush hour. >> shpolice arrived very quickly, and she was telling hem that she had gone it go inside the cafe, and the automatic glass sliding doors that normally allow you to go in the cafe was shut. she perhaps thought that the cafe was closed, then she thought something was going on inside. she told police she saw a man with a blue bag and what she thought was a shotgun. >> a flag was raised in the window. on it is reads, "there is only one god, and mohammed is his

messenger." man horan monis has been known to authorities for writing letters to families of soldiers who died in afghanistan. australian prime minister tony abbott described monis as politically motivated. >> this is a very disturbing incident. it is profoundly shocking that innocent people should be held hostage by an armed person claiming political motivation. >> bomb disposal you wants moved in to check the cafe, and the 16-hour hostage drama drew to a close. the images of terror on their door steps. al jazeera. >> well, andrew thomas is in sydney for us. andrew, a lot of unconfirmed reports around the aftermath, but we are hearing that two

people may have actually died. what are you hearing? >> that's right. well, as the media reports come from three of australia's media network. channel 7 right opposite where this cafe siege took place. and another fairfax media, the publisher of the sydney herald, three reliable news organizations saying separately that they have been told by sources within the police that two people have died as a result of the siege. one of those being the hostage taker, the man named as man horan monis. a man, who name when we put it to the police who are saying he was the hostage taker without officially confirming it.

the other person leaved to have died is believed to be one of the hostages. channel 7, the organization that has their studio right opposite the cafe, they had one reporter who the police allowed to remain in the building, and watched the scene unfold. a journalist, a respected journalist chris reason, he has said that what he believes happened was that the police saw that one of the hostages had been shot inside the cafe, that's when they decided to storm it. it's not clear whether that's correct or not. this is one individual, one journalist saying this at the moment. but that would sort of tie, if it is correct, that two have died, including one hostage and the gunman, that would tie with what we're hearing from other media sources now as well. >> indeed, it would explain why the sort of slowly operation was brought to a rapid end at that point. what more do we know about the

suspected hostage taker, man monis, and why he was doing this? >> well, why he was doing this we're not sure at all. but we do have a lot of information about man horan monis because he was well-known to the police and judiciary. he was convicted of sending obscene letters to families of soldiers who were killed in afghanistan. those letters were written between 2007 and 2009. interestingly he appealed those convictions a number of times. his final appeal was heard and rejected just last friday, barely three days ago. could this i want be connected with, if you like, the end of the road when it came to the appeals process for that conviction? but he was also has charges for other serious crimes as well. more serious crimes in many

ways. as an accessory to the murder of his ex-wife. he was on bail for that, and another set of charges, sexual assault charges that date back to a decade, he has been charged with them as well. he was certainly somebody well-known to police, judiciary, and there are videos of him on sydney street corners talking about how unfair his convictions are. he was a well-known figure in sydney. and questions will be asked how such a well-known figure was able to carry out a siege of this type, particularly if he was armed. we still have no confirmation of what he was armed with. obviously, we do think that shotguns were shoveled, although we don't know to be honest whether the shotguns involved the hostage taker as well. >> thank you very much, indeed, for that. andrew thomas following events for us in sydney. let's speak to robin, a former

british air service hostage negotiator. robin, good to have you on the ground. there are reports that it looks like the hostage may have been shot inside the cafe. that would be one reason to bring this to such a dramatic and quick end after hours of negotiation? >> yes, absolutely. that alleged murder by the hostage taker would have been exactly the reason why the commanders on the ground made the decision to mount the media assault. so it appears from the information we have so far that that was the reason. the police have mounted an assault, and it would appear very successfully. the only casualty after their assault began was the hostage taker himself. >> and clearly the main priorities throughout the whole

of this long process was the safety of the hostages, the australian police saying they wanting to slowly because they wanted to resolve this with nolos of life. >> yes, the job of the police is to preserve life, not to resolve the situation with gunfire. >> once that man committed one murder, there was a very strong chance he was about to commit another, and he had stepped well over the line, and the assault took place, and he decide as a consequence of that. and any conclusions that we draw from it afterwards is the hostage taker is responsible for all the casualties. >> now you were trained in

police hostage negotiator. 1928 us how the police proceed in making contact with hostage take center this situation, and how they get him to trust them? they want to limit it, it becomes his source to outside information and his power base. by limiting the amount of use of mobile phones, by eliminating television and media coverage that he has access to, that cuts down his ability to spread his word. he needs the hostage negotiator to spread that word. the hostage negotiator

sympathizes with him and tries the best he can to obtain the release of his hostages and eventually, hopefully the surrender of the terrorist or hostage taker. >> interesting stuff, robin speaking to us live from london there. now to other news, u.s. police are at a home where a ban suspected of killing five people has barricaded himself. he is suspected of killing three other people at different locations. french police have arrested ten people in raids targeting what they say is a network suspected of sending fighters to syria. officers moved in on targets, mostly near the city of toulouse. the organizers were already in jail, and they believe they were organizing it from prison. >> reporter: the police believe they have broken up a significant recruitment

organization that has been sending young men to iraq and syria to fight for groups like isil. the investigation, understand, has been going on for 18 months. the original tip off was from a mother of a young man turkish mother who was concerned about radicallation of her son. she told police, and they began their investigation which culminated on monday morning with these early morning raids across france in normandy in the north. some areas around paris, but mostly in toulouse in the south. now of course, the investigation will continue. the police will now arrest those to find out how widespread this was. they do believe this is not simply a case of arresting a few individuals.

they think that they have reached the heart of a fairly large organization. of course, there are about a thousand french nationals, mostly young men who have gone on to fight in iraq and syria. had hundred it's understood forest mated are in action on the ground, and about 50 have been called during these conflicts. it's an issue that the french government needs to address urgently. there is concern about violence being imported back to france as, indeed, is the concern across europe in other countries. and the real worry is the profile of those who will go in and fight appears to be wideni

widening. >> in morocco there is discussion to block fighters coming in to their country. still to come, dozens of people are still missing three days after a devastating land slide in indonesia. stay with us.

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>> welcome back. we have the top storie now. >> u.s. police raid a home where a man suspected of killing five people has barricaded himself. he's suspected of killing three other people at different locations. libya's biggest oil terminal has been shut down due to violence. fighting has intensified near the border of tunisia. >> reporter: smoke rises in

western libya. the sound of airstrikes echo for kilometers. the battle is most fierce close to the border with tunisia. on one side the so-called tribes army. the group aligned but not formerly sided with. on the other side the forces of libyan dawn, a loose coalition of militias proudly associated wit associate--broadly associated with the tunisia government. >> they targeted a residential area. we managed to repel them back. >> with the country awash with powerful militia and rifle governments, libya is in a state of lawlessness. at the heart of the fight is oil. in the east libyan dawn is advancing on the country's biggest oil terminal. fighting in this oil-rich region

has forced them to close. >> the attack on the oil region colorly shows that libyan dawn wants to be clearly in charge of the oil sources to responder their terrorist organizations just as there arist groups have done in other parts of the world. >> complicated matters further, they have established a council in the city. they now plan to offer help to libyan dawn fighters in bengahzi. >> rebels in syria say they have killed 50 governmentoldiers. the al-qaeda linked al nusra front took part of the assault. the biggest attack of its kind in two years. they now control seven military check points. al jazeera continues to demand the release of our three

journalist who is have now been imprisoned in egypt for 352 days. mohamed fahmy, bader mohammed, and peter greste were jailed on false charges of helping the outlawed muslim brotherhood. they're appealing against their convictions. the israeli prime minister and u.s. secretary of state are meeting in rome to discuss various proposals for palestinian states. benjamin netanyahu first met with the italian prime minister before sitting down with john kerry. they're focusing on a palestinian resolution drafted by jordan last month. it's calling for the israeli occupation of palestinian lands to end by november 2016. the head that have meeting the u.s. secretary of state was told by the israeli employment that he will not set a timetable. >> we have been dictate

conditions that do not comply with real peace. we will not accept attempts t of unilateral moves to be dictated to us. we will rebuff any attempt that would put this terrorism inside our home inside the state of israel. i will make this unequivocally clear. we'll stand firm in the face of any dictates. >> parts of belgium has been brought to a standstill. thousands are taking part in the stoppage which has caused the cancellation of flights and rail services. anti-government protesters have shut down major roads. supporters of the opposition pakistan part are staging sit ins in 18 different locations. they want an independent audit

of the election held last year. >> reporter: pakistan's second largest city is at a standstill after the pakistan sit in led by imran khan. he said he would bring this entire city to a grinding halt. he is saying that his demand is for the setting up of a judicial commission to probe into allegations of massive rigging. he wanted the prime minister to resign earlier, but said he's willing to call off his nationwide protest of shutting down the country on the 18th if the government afrees to the formation of a judicial formation. however, the government has shown it's dorm nation not to buckle under demands. onone day it's quite clear that khan has support and people

are out in large numbers. they will ensure that the strike and protest is successful. >> police in hong kong have arrested more than a dozen people as they clear out the last remaining protest camps on monday. the camps blocked city streets for two months. the protesters were calling for free elections in 2017, china said it will vet the candidates. protest in haiti for resignations on friday. the elections are already three years ove overdo. hundreds of people are sheltering in makeshift camps after heavy rain triggered a landslide in indonesia. 51 people are confirmed dead.

dozens are still missing. we have more from the village. >> a grim scene here. a whole village has been buried after a huge chunk of a mountain came down afte after a landslide. rescue searchers estimate there is four to ten meters of soil on top of the village. because there is a lot of water up there in the mountains, the risk of more landslides is increasing, so everyone was forced to leave the area right away. the authorities are hopeful that all the victims can be found, but it's a difficult task that is mainly done manually. lots of volunteers are here to help, risking their own lives. >> a new report in mexico said that more than 40,000 people have been murdered since

president enrhea peña nieto took office. tens of thousands of people are missing. in guerrera state 43 students disappeared in september. >> farmers husk their corn in silence in guerrero. vulchers circle over head, indicating another body may have been found. people live in terror. today it happened to us. tomorrow it could happen to you, reads the sign. written by the people in this house. a fort night ago their two brothers and three others went missing. three days after they disappeared five decapitated and partially charred bodies were found lying right here on this road. just a few days before that 11 other bodies of exactly the same

condition were found a few kilometers from here. the family says their lives might have been spared. they gave the gps coordinate of their brother's vehicle to the police and armies soon after the kidnapping. information they say authorities ignored. >> we are sure there was negligence, complicit or both. we know the power of the local criminal gang whose leaders are the brothers of our state congressman. >> reporter: at this church people donate food and diapers to a young widow. forensic scientists say her husband was still alive when his face was pinned and his eyes removed. his body was found here when police and others attacked a bus that students were riding in. soldiers at an army barracks just blocks away say that they heard and saw nothing. in scope and style the tens of thousands of gruesome murders

occurring in mexico are reminiscent of not a modern democracy but of decades past. what you see here is one of nine of clandestine graves found recently by authorities. a total of 38 bodies were found, but the locals tell uses just the fraction of the amount of people who have been disposed of in the surrounding hills. one of the reasons why it's impossible to say how many people are bea being killed in mexico on almost a dal daily basis. where there is little doubt, residents feel attacked by their government constitutions and people who are supposed to protect them. >> a city is paying tribute to one of its artists. he created the famous rock garden where that he secretly

built for 18 years. >> reporter: the rock garden is a scope of waterfalls, mosaic walls, and thousands of sculptures built entirely from waste. since opening in 1976 the garden has been admired by millions. but it was built by one man, who is celebrating his 90th birthday. >> i feel so happy when so many people around the world come to see this. there is nothing that makes me happy area. >> he has lady a fascinating life. he worked as a road inspector after india's partition with pakistan in 1947. but his imagination made him do extraordinary things. >> this entire area used to be dense forest. but in the 1950s he started

collecting building waste from around the city. for the following 18 years he cycled here in the dead of night and built these remarkable sculptures. when officials learned about his secret garden they wanted to demolish it and mr. a road. road--and build a road. they were stunned by what happened next. >> a lot of people came out and stood in front of the wall. they didn't let the bulldozers come forward. little kids stood in front of the trees. >> reporter: today, thousands of people from around the world visit the garden each day. >> i'm so excited to enter the rock garden. it's pathways are so winding. it's very exciting. >> your mind becomes fresh after coming here. you really enjoy yourself when you're here with ends.

>> despite his age he continues to manage the park. he is not worried about the future, he says, because his supporters will protect his legacy. al jazeera. >> and you can keep up-to-date with all the day's news and developments on our website, www.aljazeera.com. a few hours into the siege, three and then another two hostages got out of that cafe. some by the front door. some by the fire exit. they ran out and ran in to the arms of police, who had surrounded the cafe. >> i'm russsell beard, in southern kenya, where the latest development in human elephant conflict resolution is creating a real buzz. >> and i'm amanda burrell in indonesia, to see a wasteland