Australian PM says Melbourne siege ‘a terrorist attack’

Melbourne (Reuters): Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said on Tuesday police were treating a deadly siege in the city of Melbourne as an “act of terrorism” after a claim by the Islamic State group that one of its fighters was the gunman responsible.

Police shot dead the gunman, Yacqub Khayre, who they said had a long criminal history, on Monday after he killed a man in the foyer of an apartment block in Melbourne, Australia’s second-largest city, and held a woman hostage inside.

Senior officials confirmed that Khayre had been acquitted of a plot to attack a Sydney army base in 2009 and was on parole for a violent home invasion at the time of Monday’s siege.

“This terrorist attack by a known criminal, a man who was only recently released on parole, is a shocking, cowardly crime,” Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull told reporters in the capital, Canberra.

“It is a terrorist attack and it underlines the need for us to be constantly vigilant, never to be deterred, always defiant, in the face of Islamist terrorism,” he said.

Police also said they were investigating the siege as act of terrorism after Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack via its Amaq news agency. They identified Khayre as a 29-year-old Australian of Somali heritage.

Amaq said the attack was launched because of Australia’s membership of a U.S.-led coalition fighting against the militants in Syria and Iraq.

Police said they were investigating whether Khayre had any established links with the group.

Victoria state Police Commissioner Graham Ashton said earlier Khayre had arranged to meet a female escort at a block of serviced apartments in the beachside Melbourne suburb of Brighton on Monday.

After shooting and killing a staff member when he arrived, Khayre then held the woman hostage for several hours before he burst out of the building and engaged police in a firefight, during which he was killed.

The woman was unhurt but three police officers suffered gunshot wounds that were not life-threatening, Ashton said.

Police are investigating whether Khayre tried to lure police into an ambush. Australia has not increased its terror threat level and police said they were not looking for any other suspects.