hello, i'm wolf blitzer, it's 10:00 a.m. here in los angeles. 9:30 in tehran and 5:00 a.m. in sydney. thank you for joining us. we begin with the dramatic and deadly ending to a hostage standoff in australia. police in sydney stormed the cafe where a gunman had been holding hostages for almost 17 hours. two people were dead including the hostage-taker. three others were wounded, they are in serious condition. five hostages managed to escape hours after the standoff began. some of the remaining captives held up a black frag with arabic rating saying there is no god but allah. others pressed their hands against the window. a local official with knowledge

of the situation identified the gunman as a self-styled muslim cleric. last year he pled guilty to writing offensive letters to the families of australian service members who were killed in action in iraq and afghanistan. he also faces charges of sexual assault and an accessory in the murder of his ex-wife. the hostage standoff in sydney's central business district was certainly shocking and unprecede unprecedented. anna corin has been on the scene for much of the standoff doing amazing work for all of us. anna, give us the latest. what do we know about the raid? how was it carried out? >> wolf, just before 2:00 a.m. this morning, police decided to take -- descend on the cafe. they stormed the cafe despite

the fact that many of the media thought they were perhaps going to wait it out after what we had been hearing throughout the day that they were prepared to wait for hours to ensure that this resolved peacefully. but around 2:00 a.m., that's what they did, they stormed the cafe. police and special forces operatives entering this cafe from different entrances and e we heard gunfire, stun grenades were launched. we now understand two people were killed, including the gunman. he was an iranian refugee and self-proclaimed cleric. so certainly dramatic end to what has been a very long day here. there was much speculation he was associated with isis, calling for an isis flag, calling for a conversation with the australian prime minister

tony blair during his demands made through his hostages. this ending in the wee hours of the morning. a number of people were injured and have been taken to hospital to seven of those hostages taken out by stretcher. but certainly, police are now saying the siege is definitely over. >> you misspoke, tony abbott, the australian prime minister, but we're expecting momentarily some sort of police news conference to provide us more e details. we'll have live coverage of that here on cnn for our viewers in the united states and around the world. briefly tell us a little bit about this area. this is really the central part of the business area of sydney, right? >> reporter: yeah, absolutely, it's the heart of the city here in sydney. the cafe that's been the scene

of this siege is about a block in that direction. and it's very close to the u.s. consulate, the headquarters of the four major banks. it's opposite a major tv network so you'd have to assume that this armed gunman who is carrying a backpack making claims had he planted two bombs inside the cafe had thought this through in so fares a choosing the target to get maximum coverage. his motivations are unclear. he made demands about an isis flag, but other than, that he hadn't thought it through. i think what we are certainly hearing from hostage experts in the industry was that the fact there had been no casualties, no deaths was certainly a positive sign that police negotiators were getting through to him, but there were hundreds of police on the scene. they had swarmed the area.

he took over that coffee at 10:00 yesterday morning. there were police in position. there was also the bomb squad. there was also a real fear that not only did he plot bombs at the cafe but also around sydney. the opera house, which is at the very end of this road behind me, this was a bomb scare down there when a parcel had been located, but that turned out to be a false lead as did the other claims of bombs scattered around the city. the focus was on martin place, the center of this cbd here in the city. it was on lockdown for hours. we had initially a visual of the cafe. we are within 100 meters of the cafe. police quickly moved us. there were serious concerns that the gunman could open up fire and there could be bombs.

thankfully, that did not e vench wait. we heard from authorities saying they wanted to get through to the gunman, negotiate, end this peacefully, but obviously it ended at 2:00 a.m. and decided to storm the building. >> anna coren on the scene for us. we're standing by for that news conference, police getting ready to brief the media on what precisely happened where it stands right now. live coverage coming up this hour. > the gunman was well known to australian law enforcement authorities because of his previous run-ins with the law. we are more from london. what can you tell us about this gunman? >> he did have a number of run-ins with the law, but nothing violent. he sent a string of harassing letters to the families of australian soldiers killed in

afghanistan and pled guilty to that charge and was sentenced to 300 hours of community service. that was in 2013. but he was also facing a charge of accessory to the murder of his former wife, and on top of that most recently, he was also charged with several sexual assault charges dating back to 2002. so he did have a number of these outstanding charges that he was dealing with. but even though he was very political politically active, you see him on the streets draped in chains, chained himself claiming he had been tortured in prison, smlg that australian police won't address, won't comment on that. so he was a fixture on that sort of protest circuit, but he never seemed to be taking any violent action. several times he told the press his weapons were pen and paper. so what police are now looking at is what exactly triggered

this violent act. what led up to this because so far he described himself as a muslim cleric and man of peace. why did he decide to take this violent action? >> i had heard that he was iranian-shiite, but what became sunni and more aligned with isis as opposed to iran. is that what's going on with this individual? >> i think what's clear is he was very much an individual. he says he's not a part of any one organization or party. and he says at one point that he's become muslim. we took that to mean he was a sunni muslim. and in one of those social media postings, he pledges allegiance to isis. there's no direct communication between isis leaders or anybody in isis in syria and iraq directly communicating with him. so this is somebody who seems to

be in his own world. it doesn't seem like he had a lot of followers that were really actually following any of these lectures he put out. whatever it was that was going on in his life, he seems to have taken this action on his own initiative. it doesn't appear at this point to be linked to isis or any other group. >> we're going to learn a lot more about this guy in the coming hours. we're standing by for this news conference. sydney police spokesman is getting ready to brief the media. live coverage coming up this hour. thank you very much. we're going to have experts standing by, more of the breaking news coming up. the siege is now over, but we're only just beginning to learn what happened.

the 16-hour standoff ended with flash e grenades and gunfire. the end came a short time after around about half a dozen hostages escaped. let's talk more about what happened, how it ended, the lone wolf attack as it's being

described. joining us is a former police hostage negotiator. terrorism analyst paul crookshank and a former special agent and deputy assistant director of counterintelligence operations for the united states. g guys, thanks very much for joining us. talk about how this ended, 16 hours into these negotiations that were underway. all of a sudden it ended in bloodshed and violence. the escapees managed o to get out, but several were shot, one is believed to be dead. what's your analysis? >> during the course of that negotiation, the hostage negotiator probably had a conversation going on with him. during the course of that conversation, the important thing is to have a repore with the hostage taker. the interesting part about it, there must have been something said to the hostage negotiator

that made the perimeter personnel say we got to turn around and go in there right away. the feeling is that something took place. now keep in mind, we call this the theater of terror. their goal is money, man power and media. basically, he's the star, the hostages are the co-star shs the media produces it and the public watches it. that's his main goal, this hostage-taker. the bottom line is that there was something that took place that made them have to go in. >> and robert, he did have a shotgun so obviously he was r considered dangerous in a situation like this. but he did have a long history. law enforcement knew all about this it guy, i don't know if that was much of a factor in trying to play this thing out to get some sort of peaceful resolution. >> that would have been a part

of it. it was pointed out he didn't have violence, however, he had a number of charges he was facing for violent acts. so although there's still a lot of information we're waiting for, it points out the extraordinary challenge law enforcement and security intelligence services have to tracking individuals that might have an ideauation towards violence related to politics or political islam. >> i assume they are going through his social media, to go through and see if he had facebook to try to e get a better sense of what may have motivated him. it sounds like he could have been some sort of lone wolf inspired, if you will, by isis, but not necessarily instructed by isis to go out there specifically with an operation. >> well, that's absolutely right, wolf. we have been going through his social media through the morning. he does seem to be somebody who was inspired by isis, who was

following isis very, very closely on social media. a big fan of them. somebody that was angry at australian airstrikes. australia has flown over. this appears to be retaliation for australia's involvement in the coalition for going after isis. >> is it your sense that you have been involved in these kinds of negotiations, the longer it goes, 16 hours, at some point the hostage-taker is going to get tired, is going to get hungry, more desperate or the opposite, may simply give up. what usually happens in a situation like this? >> in a situation like this, we believe that the longer it takes, the better chances you have of the successful negotiation. why, because as you just said, he may get hungry and he may want food. keep in mind, when they want something, everything is a negotiation. whether it's a match to light a

cigarette, whether it's a sandwich, it's all negotiating. and that's the bottom line. you get trust, you have to have that conversation of trust between you and the hostage-taker. the longer it takes, the better it is for a successful outcome. now keep in mind also, there's a lot of intelligence involved in this operation today. not just australia. you have new zealand, canada and united states who are all working together. there's a compact that they have where they exchange information. this investigation is just beginning. they are going to hit his house with search warrants, they are going to take everything apart where his house to his vehicle and to the people he might be known to. >> as you know, robert, back in early september, australia went on a higher state of alert. they were afraid that isis was planning some sort of terror operation in australia. they started rounding up individuals, but the real fear

was what may have happened in this particular case, some sort of individual inspired, a lone wolf, may have been well known to local law enforcement, but not necessarily seen as a terror threat, but all of a zuden that individual who wasn't conceived as being very, very dangerous becomes incredibly dangerous. >> which, if anything, that goes to show that that type of situation is what we know right now is among the most difficult to be able to solve and prevent. i have worked in the past extensively with the state police agencies in australia as well as the australian federal police. they are absolutely topnotch. i participated in a country-wide terrorism effort, so i know the caliber of work they do and how they carry out their operations tactically. they are superb. but isis taking a page out of al qaeda's playbook where it's encouraging individuals to do these kinds of acts, you may

have someone who hasn't taken steps toward something like this taking hostages, but has so many swirling issues that may tip the scale. there may also be other things involved such as mental pathology that come into play. we don't know this yet, but making a little bit of a leap, you can almost be guaranteed if it is a singleton, a lone wolf, it's going to follow a certain strict. probably not much planning. he needed the isis flag, for example, and almost always no exit plan from a situation like this. >> and paul, as you know, isis did say they wanted to expire people in australia to go after law enforcement, military u personnel, others and do attacks within australia, right? >> that's absolutely right. the spokesman of isis back in september call ed for lone wolf attacks throughout the west

including australia and that's had a deep impact on isis followers around the world. we have seen a string of plots and attacks in north america. also plots in the uk. all these people were devouring this fact that there were religious obligation to launch these kinds of attacks. it's going to be significant concern that there could be a copy cat attack by somebody somewhere the western parts inspired by what they have seen in australia. you remember back in october with that hatchet attack in new york where an attacker went after the nypd. he was inspired by what he saw two days previously in canada with that attack on canadian parliament. concern as we move forward on copy cat attacks, wolf. >> we're wait iing for a news conference in sydney. police are e getting ready to brief the media. we'll have live coverage. i want all yof you to standby. much more of the breaking nulz. a lot of concern about the so-called lone wolf attacks.

we're taking a closer look at how the australian government is dealing with this threat and the ramifications for other countries around the world, whether in europe, north america or elsewhere. celebrate what's new, the bigger, better menu at red lobster! with more of what you love! try our newest wood-grilled combination! maine lobster, extra jumbo shrimp, and salmon! so hurry in! and sea food differently. feet...tiptoeing. better things than the pain, stiffness, and joint damage of moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis. before you and your rheumatologist decide on a biologic, ask if xeljanz is right for you. xeljanz (tofacitinib) is a small pill, not an injection or infusion, for adults with moderate to severe ra for whom methotrexate did not work well. xeljanz can relieve ra symptoms, and help stop further joint damage. xeljanz can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis.

serious, sometimes fatal infections and cancers have happened in patients taking xeljanz. don't start xeljanz if you have any infection, unless ok with your doctor. tears in the stomach or intestines, low blood cell counts and higher liver tests and cholesterol levels have happened. your doctor should perform blood tests before you start and while taking xeljanz and routinely check certain liver tests. tell your doctor if you have been to a region where fungal infections are common, and if you have had tb, hepatitis b or c, or are prone to infections. tell your doctor about all the medicines you take. one pill, twice daily, xeljanz can reduce ra pain and help stop further joint damage, even without methotrexate. ask about xeljanz.

the ultimate arena for business. hour after hour of diving deep, touching base, and putting ducks in rows. the only problem with conference calls: eventually they have to end. unless you have the comcast business voiceedge mobile app. it lets you switch seamlessly from your desk phone to your mobile with no interruptions. i've never felt so alive. get the future of phone and the phones are free. comcast business. built for business.

during the standoff in sydney, australia, we saw hostages hold a flag in the window of the cafe. it was a brak and white flag that's a testament to the faith of muslims. the flag has been popular among the sunni islamist militant groups and al qaeda. that prompted fears that the situation was connected to some islamic extremist groups. we're now joined by a reporter from australia's 7 network. thanks very much for joining us. it looks like officials knew a lot about this guy going way back. he had a lengthy rap sheet. >> very much so.

they are all the questions that's being asked. how is this gentleman we are starting to hear the details. why was he still on the street and how long was this plot in the making for? he's known very well known to australian law enforcement agencies. also well known to media o outlets. he's a 50-year-old self-proclaimed islamic cleric. he was known in media circles as the fake sheik and certainly had quite a long rap sheet with law enforcement officials there in sydney. about seven years ago he penned these poisonous letters to the families of deceased australian soldiers. in the last few years he was charged with accessory to murder over the death of his wife. he was on parole for that crime. beyond that, there was also 50-plus allegations of indecent and sexual assault against him. but wolf, only in the last few weeks or months, he had gone back to court for those

poisonous letters and they had thrown out his attempt to have his conviction overturned. it's unclear yet if his anger over that somehow prompted this attack. >>. we don't know if he was directly instructed by isis to go ahead and engage in an operation or like or he just decided on his own this is the right thing to do, right? >> that's correct. at this stage, that's unconfirmed. we know some of the demands he was making and that he was forcing these hostages to make on his behalf via swoeshl media, videos and postings, we did not. make those public while the situation was unfolding, but now we know that one of the demands he had was to sbring an isis flag to this cafe where the siege was unfolding. again, no direct correlation we know of between this man and isis per se.

but again, perhaps one of those lone wolf inspired kind of attacks that you know too well here in america and sad ly we nw know in australia. >> but you remember and certainly it was a huge source of concern back in september when australia said it was going on a higher state of alert because it was concerned that isis was plotting some sort of attack inside australia, right? >> very much so. and more specifically, in that exact place where this siege had unfolded. that plot that was thwarted back in september was believed to be a plot to dehead a random person, an innocent member of the public on the streets of sydney around that modern place area in the central business district. very much we had been on a heightened state of alert over the last few months. australia is involved in those air raids against islamic state in iraq.

the prime minister was very clear to the australian public that this was a fight australia needed to be involved in because in his words no country, no place is immune to these kind of attacks and sadly yesterday and into this morning, we saw his words ring true. >> how is that played inside australia, the decision by the prime minister tony alabama bbb cooperate with coalition partners and launch airstrikes against isis targets in syria and iraq? >> it had been a controversial decision and our prime minister and government particularly did not rush. they took quite a long time. we had watched as america led this intervention in syria and in iraq. australia in particular expressed it did not want to be brought in to a prolonged engagement in syria, but they voted through the parliament into iraq. our prime minister believed it was our responsibility and in

australia's best interest to take this fight forward, for us to be involved, because. we are not immune and we have seen we are not immune. it wasn't necessarily a popular choice. it has not been a popular choice in other countries including here in america about one that most people realize it is a fight that needs to be had. we cannot sit back and do nothing. >> australia's 7 channel network, one of our cnn affiliates, thank you for joining us. >>. thank you, wolf. we're standing by for a news conference in sydney. local law enforcement about to release details of what happened. we'll have live coverage coming up here on cnn. the sydney hostages, they relayed demands from the captor. we'll take a look at the role of social media as the hostage drama over 16 hours played out, that's coming up.

welcome back to our viewers in the united states and around the world. i'm wolf blitzer reporting from los angeles. updating our top story this hour, a hostage standoff ends with two people dead including

the hostage taker. here are the latest developments. police and special forces stormed the cafe in sydney where a gunman was holding employees and customers hostage pap source says there was nine people in the building at the time. no word on the second person who was killed. three others were wounded, they are listed in serious condition. earlier before the raid, some of the hostages held up a black flag with arabic writing. some pressed hands against the window. police were monitoring social media where hostages were posting the gunman's demands. for more on how the siege played out in zsydney, specifically on social media, let's bring in tom foreman. he's been going through the social media for us. walk us through what you're finding out. >> this was undeniably a force. multiplier for this man who took

these hostages. he used social media to create the image that he was much bigger than one person. maybe there were other people involved. police have to look into that. but at the moment he created this fiction of a much bigger world. one of the aaways he did this was through the use of the hostages themselves. videos he forced them to post on video services out there in which they made statements. there were four of these where they repeated his demands. they grew ever more urgent. they were asking for certain demands. one of the things they said was it's not hard to meet these demands. please help us, it's simple. he wants an isis flag and wants the prime minister to speak to him on live media. pretty straight forward. what else can we can do, i'm begging. he essentially set up his own broadcast operation to get his message out to the world about what he wanted, when he wanted it and to see if he could force the authority's hands.

>> police are getting ready for this news conference. we're standing by about 5:34 a.m. in sydney right now. they were really concerned, though, about the news media airing these social immediamedi from the hostages. explain their concerns and why most of the international news media accepted the police's requests. >> this has been a standard operating procedure for as long as i have known. when you have somebody holding hostages issue the police want to be the only negotiator. they don't want this person getting a bigger sense of themselves of reaching out with a bigger message and getting pressure from the outside. they want one-on-one negotiations cutting off the lines of communications, getting news agencies to agree to that was helpful in the situation as it almost always is. >> tom foreman monitoring the social media aspect of this crisis for 16 hours. plus only how we're beginning to learn details. we're standing by for a news

conference from law enforcement who are going to explain what they can about what happened, how this operation went down. australia may be isolated on a continent of its own, but the attacks like the one we have seen today shows how far these international terrorists potentially are able to reach those who are inspired by them. much more on this part of the story, when we come back. i have a cold with terrible chest congestion. i better take something.

theraflu severe cold doesn't treat chest congestion. really? new alka-seltzer plus day powder rushes relief to your worst cold symptoms plus chest congestion. [breath of relief] oh, what a relief it is.

i was thinking about htaking this speed test from comcast business. oh yeah? if they can't give us faster internet or save us money, they'll give us 150 bucks. sounds like a win win. guys! faster internet? i have never been on the internet and i am doing pretty well. does he even work here? don't listen to the naysayer. take the comcast business speed test. get faster speeds or more savings, or we'll give you $150. comcast business. built for business.

it's no secret australia has been a partner in the u.s.-led coalition in the middle east. a very close partner of the united states. but incidents like the one today also highlight the fact that australia is not immune to the troubles in the middle east even though it's far away. as many as 100 usa trail yns are believed to have joined isis they have become even more sophisticated. our senior international coalition is joining us from the cnn center. do incidents like this one, the one that unfolded today, 16 hours of this siege, if yo will, downtown sydney australia, does it wind up hurting isis or does it help isis recruit new supporters? >> you might think some of the mixed messaging, the flag that

zubt isn't necessarily the branding that isis uses, that mixed messaging. it might detract from recruits to isis. but probably the isis is the case. this is the kind of global spectacle that's really the many ways of those who would take them around the world. certainly online there's been plenty of cheering on in sydney. this does tie into much of the messaging isis put out saying they were then visit vengeance back on the west and some of his allies as well. i should point out australia, they are not on the higher end of the list of the countries afflicted by this. it's interesting to see that australia was victim to this sort of thing. >> as all oir viewers know, you spent a lot of time there. a lot of time in iraq watching

what's going on. how does isis i guess through social media, how do they encourage sympathizers to engage in an operation like the one that unfolded in sydney? >> well, i hate to say it, the lone wolf attack is an easy thing to inspire. they put out the message that those who wish to have affiliation with them should do this kind of attack. outside of that, we're different from the ways where a decade ago, you might imagine bin laden in a cave conducting a training camp in the hills. that's no longer the case. the information is perhaps passed through other means. . this man may have only had one firearm and it's about the use of a particularly high profile area like where that cafe was. that helps generate the panic. i should point out their initial goal when they try to establish this wasn't to attack the west but to create territory for

themselves. that has been a by-product in some might sate logic in extension o of what they are about in the first place. . we are seeing that as the focus as to they want to join their ranks. >> as far as we know, isis has not formally responded. have you heard anything about that? >> no, the nature of social media presence is it's hard to be clear which account is specifically isis speaking for themselves or whether it's those that support them voicing their support. we'll have to wait and e see how that transpires. it's the lone wolf idea that you simply say to people who want to have allegiance, go ahead and commit this kind of attack. that's the major issue. very hard to prevent or track. >> so once again, thanks very much. we're waiting for this news conference to start. clearly it's been delayed a bit in sydney. we'll hear from loam tharts of how this happened.

there you see live pictures from our affiliate. as soon as the news conference starts, you'll hear it live right here on cnn. we're also following other important news including here in the united states. the 2016 u.s. presidential campaign season is starting. it's starting right now. we're going to take a closer look at this it man, jeb bush, the former florida governor, son of a former president, guess what, he's very seriously thinking of running for president of the united states. the news conference is be n

beginning in sydney. let's go there. >> this morning, i come before you with the heaviest of hearts. we have lost some of our own in an attack we never thoughts we would see here in our city. in the past 24 hours, this city has been shaken by a tragedy that none of us could have ever imagined. the values we held dear yesterday we hold dear today. freedom, democracy, and harmony. these defined us yesterday and will define us today, they will define us tomorrow. our first thoughts and prayers this morning are with the innocent victims of this horrendous, vicious attack.

i want to say to their family and friends that everyone here stands beside you. they stand beside you today, they stand beside you tomorrow, they will stand beside you forever. i want to pay tribute to the men and women of the new south wales police who saved many, many lives over the past 24 hours and they have risked their lives in doing so. i also want to pay tribute to all the other emergency workers and authorities who provided assistance during these events. my thoughts also remain with the hostages who have been freed. they will be provided every support they need in coming days and weeks and months. we are a peaceful, harmonious society, which is the envy of the world. today while we grieve, we must

go about our usual business. we must work, we must talk to our family, we must talk to our friends. but i say to everyone in new south wales, today we must come together like never before. we are stronger together, we will get through this, we will get through this. with the events that we have seen have shaken us, but they do not dampen our resolve. >> good morning, thank you. ladies and gentlemen, i'd like to now confirm and no mistake we're now dealing with a critical incident. that means there's a thorough investigation. we need to find out what's happened here and what's happened inside that cafe. it's not time to speculate. we're going to work through the

facts and we will advise you as soon as we can. at this time, we need to think about the hostages. those that are caught up in the ordeal, i can only imagine the terror that they have been through. they are very brave people who in many cases were just buying a cup of coffee and got caught up in this dreadful affair. we should reflect on their courage, the courage that they displayed during the many hours in that room. they had to make decisions, hard decisions and our heart goes out to them. i'm sure you would agree. we, too, share the grief of the families and the pain they have been through, not knowing what is happening to their loved ones and not being able to help them. it's been a distressing time for those families. i'm sure you would agree. to the people of sydney, this was an isolated incident. it is an isolated incident. do not let this sort of incident bring about any loss of confidence about working or visiting in our city. it was the act of an individual.

this should never destroy or change the way of our life. as the premier has indicated, this won't change our lives. this will not change the things that we hold dear in this country. right now, i ask for members of the community. we help friends and this is exactly what we should be doing at this time. it's not about finding reasons to divide communities, but finding ways to heal the wounds and help everyone grow stronger because we all want a stronger australia. i would like to commend the work of our police. while everyone may second guess what's occurred in the last hours, they are the ones who had to make the decision. our police had to deal with the incident. it was tough work. many hours on a point or part of a team that had to make that entry and deal with the situation. i want to point out they have saved lives.

they have saved many lives. to those men and women, all that were involved, we thank you. as your commissioner, i thank you, but i'm sure australia thank you. thank you that you're there and prepared to do this. to put your life on the line to keep us safe is a very, very honorable cause. for that, our gratitude goes out to you. i can indicate to you that we have accounted for at this stage 17 hostages. that includes the 5 escaped yesterday and a number that have traumatic injuries, some with medical conditions. we have, as you have reported, two deceased amongst the hostages and six that were uninjured. we also have a lone gunman who has been shot and killed and we have a police officer who has been injured as a result of a gunshot wound to the face. i have talked to that officer. he's in good condition.

he's certainly been assessed and will be remaining in hospital for some time. not too long, we hope, but he's well and grateful to be alive. let me assure you. that, lajs s where i'll hand it over to you for questions. >> if i can ask, the injury, why was it made at that particular point? >> it was made by the teams responsible. what we don't do is complete with those that have to make that call. they make the call because they believe that at that time if they didn't enter, there would have been many more lives lost. >> >> the events that were unfolding inside the premises led them to the belief now was the time to deploy and they did. >> what was happening inside >> at this stage i understand that there was a number of gun shots that were heard, which caused officers to move straight to what we call an emergency

action plan and caused them to enter. >> did the gunman fall asleep at any stage and the hostages that were in there to make that break and as a consequence -- >> i'm not in a position to confirm that. now is not the time to second guess or speculate. this is a critical incident. we have to go through the investigation. we have talked to the coroner. the coroner has jurisdiction. we'll work with the coroner at this stage. there's much to be done. >> was the gunman in battle? >> at this stage i'm not going to go into that right now. we're dealing with this critical incident. our thoughts are turning our minds looking after these hostages and the families of those that have been caught up in this and, of course, we have two that have died as a result of actions inside of that fight and make sure we comfort those families. >> what about the hostages and

how are they being taken care of at this point? >> can you repeat that, please. >> the hostages. how are they being taken care of. >> they are part of this investigation. we need to talk to them. they are being looked after in terms of their psychological needs. we'll work with them. at this stage they are being well cared for. >> are they with family. >> family is certainly involved in this incident. >> do you know whether the hostages were killed by the gunman or "crossfire"? >> again, as a result of an exchange of gunfire inside that premises, police moved in and at this stage, as i've indicated we have a number of people that are injured, and certainly we're working through that as part of the critical incident. >> he was obviously well-known to police. when was the last contact that police had? >> again that's part of what will come out once we get through this. at this stage we're not going to

enter into that. sorry, excuse me. [ inaudible ] >> you were previously criticized from failing to act in the past. are you concerned that allowed this to happen. >> a lot of concerns. there was a vicious, horrendous attack that took place in the heart of our city. there are many questions that will come in coming hours, days and weeks. what i can assure you is i will answer every single one of them. we'll get to the bottom of events and do everything possible to make sure we don't see happen again in this city what we saw happen in the last 24 hours.

[ inaudible ] >> at this stage what i can assure you is that particular premise has been secured and at this stage we have no explosive devices that have been found. >> can you at least describe the treatment the hostages felt at this stage. were they treated well or is there any indication of that? >> at this stage rather than go into that, until we were involved in the emergency action, we believe that no one had been injured. that changed. we changed it. >> how long has he been known to police? >> again that's part of what will come out. we'll talk to you later today and i'm sure he'll be able to give you more information. again, we won't compromise this investigation. it's important that we get this right. of course, the other issue that we always need to be mindful of,

is rather than give you information for the sake of giving you information we want to make sure that it's accurate. so when it's accurate and only when it's accurate we'll release. okay. thank you. so there you heard the police commissioner of new south wales and the premier of new south wales give the information of what's going on. two of the hostages confirmed dead, the hostage holder, the hostage taker himself killed in this operation. there were 17 hostages. the law enforcement authorities say 17 hostages, five had earlier escaped that left 12. four of those hostages are now in the hospital. one law enforcement official also in the hospital. he was shot in the face according to the police

commissioner. tom fuentes was listening to this. i know you worked with closely with the australians. it looks like some of the questions now will focus in, did the police do the right thing in going in 16 hours in. something triggered that movement that resulted in the end of the siege. but also resulted in obviously, the deaths of two of the hostages and the hostage holder. >> right, wolf. their procedures are very similar to what we using u.s. and what the fbi used. i was an on scene commander in situations like this. what you have is the commander that's right at the scene is getting information directly from the hostage negotiateors, the s.w.a.t. team leaders who are rehearsing an entry, other investigators, surveillance people, every possible piece of information is coming to the commander. but when someone, usually it's a negotiator says this is going

bad or shots are heard that the person inside the hostage taker has fired shots and the hostages are being killed, that commander gives the signal to go. and the teams have already been rehearsing for hours of how to come in the doors, what their fields of fire will be, what their techniques will to be minimize ricochet bullets and other harmful things that can always happen in a situation like this. but procedurally, that call is made right at the scene when the commander thinks somebody or some group of people are being killed. >> and they will presumably investigate whether the two hostages that tied were killed by a hostage holder who had a shotgun or inadvertently may have died in the exchange of gunfire that occurred when the police eventually assaulted that cafe, right? >> that's true. the coroner's investigation, the autopsies hopefully will reveal, you know, what each person died of and if it's from gunfire,

what bullet caused the death and what gun fired that bullet. sometimes that's not always possible, if you have a ricocheted bullet that gets mangled and then hits bone and other hard material, it could get mangled beyond the point of being able to be examined ballistically. under normal conditions they should be able to differentiate between shotgun pellets versus the weaponry or assault rifles that were used by the s.w.a.t. team. >> and so that's what we know. two women were taken to the hospital, two of the hostages described as having nonlife threatening injuries. the male police officer in the hospital also nonlife threatening wound in the his face from gunshot pellets, another woman taken to the hospital with a gunshot wound to her shoulder and another 35-year-old woman taken to the hospital as a precaution. tom, we'll stay on top of this story. that's it for me.

i'll be back at 5:00 p.m. eastern in the situation room. for our international viewers christiane amanpour is next. in north america our special coverage of the hostage taking crisis continues with brooke baldwin right after a quick break. and when i finally told my doctor, he said humira is for adults like me who have tried other medications but still experience the symptoms of moderate to severe crohn's disease. and that in clinical studies, the majority of patients on humira saw significant symptom relief. and many achieved remission. humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. serious, sometimes fatal infections and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened; as have blood, liver, and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure. before treatment, get tested for tb. tell your doctor if you've been to areas where certain fungal infections are common, and if you've had tb, hepatitis b,

are prone to infections, or have flu-like symptoms or sores. don't start humira if you have an infection. ask your gastroenterologist about humira. with humira, remission is possible. . and here we go. brooke baldwin thank you so much for being with me as we continue our live continuous coverage out of sidney, australia. a dramatic ending to this ordeal that add 17 plus hours in this chocolate cafe into the overnight hours. we have some new information here as far as those injured and those dead from australian law enforcement. this is what we just got in total. 17 hostages accounted for. five had escaped earlier. two hostages had been pronounced dead. a 34-year-old man and a 38-year-old woman after being