World
The man who took 17 people hostage in a cafe in Sydney on Monday was carrying an illegally owned firearm, Australian police have said. The BBC reports:
PM Tony Abbott said on Wednesday that he wanted to know how Man Haron Monis was able to get a gun licence despite carrying an illegally owned firearm,. New South Wales Police said Mr Abbott had been given inaccurate information.
Two people died along with Monis when police stormed the Lindt cafe to end the 16-hour siege. Four other people, one a police officer, suffered gunshot wounds. Some of the hostages have been talking to the media about their experiences inside the cafe, and the moment police moved in.
One man who managed to escape told his family he believed they would "not survive until the morning if they did not do something". On Wednesday, Mr Abbott announced a review into the background and security checks on Monis.
He said questions must be asked about why Monis - an Iranian who first came to Australia as a refugee in 1996 - was not on a security watch list despite a history of violence and mental instability, and why he had a gun licence.
Tony Abbott said security services would learn from the siege. But the Australian Federal Police said it had since "confirmed that there is no record of Mr Monis ever having held a firearms licence", and that the inaccurate information was based on one manual entry in a police reference database.
