Australia will remain defiant in the face of Islamist terrorism, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said this morning following an incident in Melbourne late yesterday in which a man was killed and a woman held hostage.
A man, since identified as Yacqub Khayre, 29, of Roxburgh Park, was shot dead by police shortly before 6pm, having left an apartment building, where he had held a woman hostage, and shooting at police. Three officers were shot and injured in the incident.
A siege had been sparked earlier when emergency services responded to reports of an explosion at the building at about 4pm and found the body of a man with gunshot wounds in the foyer.
The so-called Islamic State has reportedly claimed responsibility for the attack but police cast doubt on whether Khayre had been in contact with the group. Khayre, who police said was believed to have been behind a phone call to a Melbourne TV station in which he said he was acting for IS and al-Qaeda, had been previously charged and acquitted over a plot to attack Sydney’s Holsworthy Army barracks in 2009.
Mr Turnbull said that while there is a lot about the incident that is not yet known, “we do know it was a terrorist attack”.
“What is clear here is that we face a growing threat from Islamist terrorism, in Australia, in our region and around the world. We will continue to defy it and we will continue to defeat it.”
Mr Turnbull also said he would raise questions about how Khayre was on parole at the time of the incident with state premiers.
“This issue of parole has to be addressed.”
