of the situation identified the gunman as a self-styled muslim cleric. last year he pled guilty to writing offensive letters to the families of australian service members who were killed in action in iraq and afghanistan. he also faces charges of sexual assault and an accessory in the murder of his ex-wife. the hostage standoff in sydney s central business district was certainly shocking and unprecede unprecedented. anna corin has been on the scene for much of the standoff doing amazing work for all of us. anna, give us the latest. what do we know about the raid? how was it carried out? wolf, just before 2:00 a.m. this morning, police decided to take descend on the cafe. they stormed the cafe despite
cigarette, whether it s a sandwich, it s all negotiating. and that s the bottom line. you get trust, you have to have that conversation of trust between you and the hostage-taker. the longer it takes, the better it is for a successful outcome. now keep in mind also, there s a lot of intelligence involved in this operation today. not just australia. you have new zealand, canada and united states who are all working together. there s a compact that they have where they exchange information. this investigation is just beginning. they are going to hit his house with search warrants, they are going to take everything apart where his house to his vehicle and to the people he might be known to. as you know, robert, back in early september, australia went on a higher state of alert. they were afraid that isis was planning some sort of terror operation in australia. they started rounding up individuals, but the real fear
tony blair during his demands made through his hostages. this ending in the wee hours of the morning. a number of people were injured and have been taken to hospital to seven of those hostages taken out by stretcher. but certainly, police are now saying the siege is definitely over. you misspoke, tony abbott, the australian prime minister, but we re expecting momentarily some sort of police news conference to provide us more e details. we ll have live coverage of that here on cnn for our viewers in the united states and around the world. briefly tell us a little bit about this area. this is really the central part of the business area of sydney, right? reporter: yeah, absolutely, it s the heart of the city here in sydney. the cafe that s been the scene
zubt isn t necessarily the branding that isis uses, that mixed messaging. it might detract from recruits to isis. but probably the isis is the case. this is the kind of global spectacle that s really the many ways of those who would take them around the world. certainly online there s been plenty of cheering on in sydney. this does tie into much of the messaging isis put out saying they were then visit vengeance back on the west and some of his allies as well. i should point out australia, they are not on the higher end of the list of the countries afflicted by this. it s interesting to see that australia was victim to this sort of thing. as all oir viewers know, you spent a lot of time there. a lot of time in iraq watching
including australia and that s had a deep impact on isis followers around the world. we have seen a string of plots and attacks in north america. also plots in the uk. all these people were devouring this fact that there were religious obligation to launch these kinds of attacks. it s going to be significant concern that there could be a copy cat attack by somebody somewhere the western parts inspired by what they have seen in australia. you remember back in october with that hatchet attack in new york where an attacker went after the nypd. he was inspired by what he saw two days previously in canada with that attack on canadian parliament. concern as we move forward on copy cat attacks, wolf. we re wait iing for a news conference in sydney. police are e getting ready to brief the media. we ll have live coverage. i want all yof you to standby. much more of the breaking nulz. a lot of concern about the so-called lone wolf attacks.