Australian PM: Cafe Gunman Dropped from Watch List

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott is looking for answers on why the gunman in Monday's deadly hostage crisis was dropped from a national security watchlist.

According to Abbott, self-proclaimed Islamic sheikh Man Haron Monis was dropped from the list years ago.

"I don't know why he dropped off the watch list in those days, I really don't," Abbott told reporters.

On Wednesday, he announced plans for a joint federal and state review of the deadly hostage situation in Sidney.

"We particularly need to know how someone with such a long record of violence and such a long record of mental instability was out on bail after his involvement in a particularly horrific crime," Abbott said.

"And we do need to know how he seemed to have fallen off our security agency's watch list back in about 2009," he said.

Monis took 17 people hostage Monday. Sixteen hours later the siege ended in a hail of police gunfire. Monis and two hostages were killed.