Brighton siege: Police confirm incident was 'an act of terrorism'

"The threat of terrorism in real in this country,"  Australian Federal Police Deputy Commissioner Michael Phelan said at a press conference this morning.

Hundreds of people in the state of Victoria alone are under review for terrorism links, he said. It is unclear if Yacqub Khayre was on a terror watch list at the time of the siege.

Mr Phelan said authorities were constantly putting people under review.
 

Recapping what we know so far about the Brighton siege last night. This is how events unfolded yesterday afternoon: 

• Police were called to Buckingham Serviced Apartments in Bay Street, Brighton, at 4pm on Monday after reports of an explosion.
• When police arrived at the complex, they found a man's body in the foyer. The man, a Chinese national, was an attendant who worked at the complex. 
• Soon after, a woman called triple zero saying she was being held hostage. It is understood the woman was an escort who was hired to meet the gunman at the apartments. 
• Witnesses reported dozens of gunshots rang out just after 6pm. Several people fled the apartments and took refuge in a nearby Coles supermarket.
• Channel Seven reported a man called its newsroom and said: "This is for IS"
• Police shot dead the gunman after he exited the apartment building and started firing at police.
• Three male police officers were injured in the gunfire. Two were taken to hospital and one was treated at the scene. Two of the men suffered hand injuries, while the third was shot in the neck. None of the officers sustained life-threatening injuries. 
• About 6.20pm, police removed what appeared to be a body on a stretcher. 
• Police said they were investigating whether the incident was terror-related.

The following information has emerged this morning:

• Islamic State claimed responsibility for the siege, calling the gunman "a soldier of the Islamic State", Reuters reported.
• The dead gunman was identified as 29-year-old Roxburgh Park man Yacqub Khayre.
• It is believed Khayre's plan was to lure special operations group officers to the scene. It is believed he took the woman hostage and shot the attendant to lure police into a shootout. 
• Khayre had previously been investigated over a planned attack on the Holsworthy army base in Sydney.
• It is believed Khayre had fought in Somalia, with Somali militant group Al-Shabaab.
• He was jailed in October 2013 for a violent, ice-fuelled home invasion but had been on parole since November 2016. 
• Police are searching Khayre's Roxburgh Park address and have seized computers and other electronic items.
• Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has demanded "how was this man on parole?"

It is understood Khayre cut off his parole GPS security ankle bracelet on Monday to avoid having his movements monitored.

It is understood a recent edition of the IS magazine Dabiq urged followers to take a prostitute hostage to start a protracted siege designed to engage special force police in a gunfight that with end in "martyrdom".

Khayre was jailed in 2013 over a aggravated burglary in Dallas, in Melbourne's north, but had been out on parole since November. 

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said the issue of parole would be a "high priority" at a Council of Australian Governments meeting on Friday.

"How was this man on parole?" he said at a press conference in Canberra. "He had a long record of violence, a very long record of violence."

Khayre had been jailed for five-and-a-half years for a violent, ice-fuelled home invasion in 2013 and had been on parole since November.

"The issue of parole had to be addressed. There has been too many cases of people on parole committing violent offences of this kind."

"We now need to address this issue of parole and that will be a high priority at this COAG meeting."

The area surrounding the apartment block remains in lockdown as police continue to conduct their investigation into Monday's bloody siege.

Dozens of officers are standing guard at the taped-off scene towards the Nepean Highway end of Bay Street. 

A body on a trolley was removed from the building by a coroner early on Tuesday morning and taken away in a white van.

Bags of evidence have been taken from the scene by forensics investigators while a large contingent of media watches on. 
 

Authorities believe the gunman acted alone.

"There's nothing we have found thus far to suggest to us this was anything that was planned or done in concert with others," Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton said.

"We believe at this stage he was acting alone and there is no ongoing threat in relation to a plot."
 

The Age's crime writer John Silvester believes the gunman, Yacqub Khayre, shot dead an attendant at the Buckingham Serviced Apartments in Brighton and took an escort hostage to lure police into a shootout. Here's a link to his article. 

He also spoke with radio station 3AW about yesterday's siege, which he called a "suicide attack". 

Mr Ashton said the sex worker taken hostage was "severely traumatised" but was physically unharmed in the siege.

He dismissed rumours the woman was tied up by Khayre but said she was "held against her will".

It is understood a recent edition of the IS magazine Dabiq urged followers to take a prostitute hostage to start a protracted siege designed to engage special force police in a gunfight that with end in "martyrdom".

It is understood Khayre yesterday cut off his parole GPS security ankle bracelet to avoid having his movements monitored.

One of the police received 18 pellet wounds to his head and neck while another suffered a finger injury.
 

The fact Khayre was on parole at the time of the shooting has come under scrutiny at this morning's press conference.

Mr Ashton said Khayre had qualified for parole and was following the conditions of his release at the time of the siege.

Premier Daniel Andrews said this would be an angle of inquiry.

"Of course it is a concern to all of us that somebody compliant with each and every condition of parole could commit such a crime.".

Court documents reveal that Khayre previously had an affinity with al-Shabbab, the extremist group from his native Somalia. 

Police believed he had become radicalised after attending Preston mosque along with other men who were also charged in relation to the Holsworthy barracks plot. 

It was alleged Khayre had also travelled to Somalia as part of preparation for the plot. 

Al-Shabbab is yet to declare a partnership with either Islamic State or al Qaeda, but has reportedly been losing fighters to both extremist groups. 

Mr Ashton said there was nothing to suggest an attack had been evident beforehand.

He said it was possible Khayre had wanted to lure police but that remains unclear.

The woman was in the apartment when Khayre broke out firing at police.

Police will execute a warrant at an address in Roxburgh Park today and will be there "for some time".

Computers and electronic items have also been seized and Australian Federal Police are now involved in the investigation.

Mr Ashton said Khayre lived with his mother at the Roxburgh Park property.

The second man killed in the shooting was an employee at the Buckingham Serviced Apartments.

He was an Australian national born in China and is not believed to be connected to the attack.

Police will allege he was shot by Yacqub Khayre in the foyer of the building.

Commissioner Graham Ashton said it was a "great tragedy" and no more information would be released as inquiries are made in China.

Victoria Police Commissioner Graham Ashton has confirmed the gunman was 29-year-old Roxburgh Park man Yacqub Khayre.

Channel Seven chief of staff Nicole Bland answered a call to the newsroom believed to be from gunman Yacqub Khayre about 5.40pm last night .

"I spoke to a woman on there, clearly distressed," Bland told radio station 3AW. "I couldn't understand what she was saying. She was speaking very quickly and I kept asking her to repeat herself."

"Then a man's voice came across very clearly and said 'this is for IS, this is for al-Qaeda."

Ms Bland said she had "every reason" to believe the caller was Khayre and said police told her the call came from inside the apartment block.

Terror group Islamic State claimed responsibility for the siege earlier this morning, Reuters reports.

"The attack in Melbourne, Australia was carried out by a soldier of the Islamic State in response to the call for targeting the subjects of the coalition states," the group's Amaq propoganda agency said.

IS blamed the attack on Australia's membership in the US-led coalition against the militant group.

Yacqub Khayre travelled from his home in Melbourne's north-west, booking an apartment and luring a sex worker there, claiming to be a client, John Silvester writes.

She was tied up before Khayre shot the building's clerk as part of an alleged trap to ambush police.

Read John Silvester's full report on the Brighton siege here.

More from John Silvester's interview on radio station 3AW.

Yacqub Khayre was reportedly known to police as an Islamic State "sympathiser" but wasn't considered a major threat despite being on the radar of authorities.

Silvester said Khayre called Triple Zero operators and told them he had a bomb and a hostage. 

"His plan was to ambush police," he said.

Khayre was reportedly armed with a sawed-off shotgun before being shot and killed by six Special Operations Group officers.

Age crime reporter John Silvester said Yacqub Khayre shot dead the clerk at the serviced apartments before he took an escort hostage and tied her up.

Silvester said Khayre's plan was to lure Special Operations Group officers to the scene.

"There was police in the vicinity he did not attack. He was waiting for special operations police to arrive," he told radio station 3AW.

"He was not in the apartment but hiding outside."

"His plan clearly was to try and kill police."