Police attended an incident in the suburb of Brighton after an explosion was reported. On arrival they discovered a man dead in a stairwell and a situation in which a man was holding a woman hostage.
Negotiations were attempted but after the man began firing at police, in which 3 officers were hurt, they stormed the building and shot the man dead. The hostage was unhurt.
The man, named as Yacqub Khayre, was known to police for violent offences and had been linked to extremism. It is not clear whether the incident is terror-related but police are investigating – apparently in a phone call to the media, the man said he was acting in the name of so-called Islamic Sate and al-Qaeda but despite so-called Islamic State claiming responsibility, links are yet to be confirmed.
Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton said: “We do not yet know if this was something he was really planning or whether it was just an ad hoc decision that he has made just to go off tap like this,
“They (IS) always tend to jump up and claim responsibility every time something happens,”
Source: bbc.co.uk
