Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott says hostage taker was disturbed

Sydney: Australia's prime minister says the gunman who took hostages in a Sydney cafe was "a deeply disturbed individual' known to the police but he was not on a terror watch list.

Tony Abbott said on Tuesday that Man Haron Monis, who died in a police raid along with two hostages, "certainly had been well known to the Australian Federal Police ... but I don't believe that he was on a terror watch list at this time."

Abbott spoke after laying flowers at a makeshift memorial in Sydney for the victims of a central city cafe siege. He laid a bouquet of white flowers at the memorial in Martin Place while his wife Margie laid a bouquet of red flowers. Abbott also wrote a message and waved at the crowd.