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Doubts over police handling of Sydney siege

Xinhua, January 12, 2015 Adjust font size:

There were reported doubts on Monday amongst senior police about the way the recent siege in the heart of Sydney's CBD was managed.

Two hostages and the gunman who was holding them died when police stormed the Lindt Cafe in the Martin Place boulevard in the early hours of Dec. 16.

It has been revealed one of the hostages, lawyer and mother of three Katrina Dawson, 37, died of a heart attack after being struck by two ricocheting bullets believed to have been fired from police guns.

Gunman Man Haron Manis had just shot dead cafe manager Tori Johnson, 34, after a 16 hour stand off when police forced their way into the cafe, hurling stun grenades and firing 25 bullets as they did so.

But Fairfax Media, one of Australia's largest diversified media organizations, claimed police had decided not to storm the cafe for fear of injuring or killing hostages at the beginning of the siege.

That plan was overruled by commanders after a police sniper witnessed Manis execute Johnson after six of his 13 hostages escaped.

Ms Dawson's official cause of death will be determined by the New South Wales Coroner once the critical incident investigation is completed.

The New South Wales police, which has jurisdiction over Sydney, declined to comment on the Fairfax Media report. Endi