Islamic Terrorists Take At Least 13 Hostages at Sydney Cafe & Force Women to Hold Up Sinister Black Flag

At least 13 hostages are being held in the Lindt Chocolate Cafe in Sydney, Australia at 9:45 am local time.

The people inside are being held at gunpoint by at least one gunman, possibly several. No hostages have been released.

New conflicting reports state that there are at least 40 hostages.

Approximately 50 hostages may be held captive at #Lindt café – local reports http://t.co/oUP8h69xra #sydneysiege pic.twitter.com/78XAbotfbS

— Sabena Siddiqi (@sabena_siddiqi) December 15, 2014

At around 10:56 am, it was reported that a man walked into the famous Opera House, which is near the café, with a “mysterious package.”

Opera House remains in lock down. Reports of “suspicious package” appear unfounded. pic.twitter.com/CFJTywDEP3

— Anthony Klan (@Anthony_Klan) December 15, 2014

Meanwhile, two female hostages have been forced to hold the Islamic flag to the window of the Lindt Café.

While the flag isn’t exactly the same as the Islamic State flag, Greg Barton, a terrorism expert and Australian native from Melbourne Monash University,says, “getting hold of an [Islamic State] flag would be quite difficult, and people will make do with what they have got.”

BREAKING: Gunmen displaying Islamist flag take hostages in Sydneyhttp://t.co/xbyDZjiW6Y pic.twitter.com/lRulQ1CxFi

— VICE News (@vicenews) December 15, 2014

The flag on top is the Shahadah flag. It means to “observe, witness, testify.” The official Islamic State flag on the bottom.

Traffic has been diverted in Sydney, and numerous buildings nearby have been evacuated, including the Opera House, State Library, and parliamentary executive offices.

Sydney Opera House evacuated, concourse desertedhttp://t.co/NMbuLCimKV #SydneySiege (via @cberkman)pic.twitter.com/QYlOU0REVw

— BuzzFeed Australia (@BuzzFeedOz) December 15, 2014

One gunman has been spotted wearing a black bandana – there is possibly a second gunman as well.

A closer still caption of #Sydneysiege gunman http://t.co/2zFjvlPC1npic.twitter.com/tk1jwhYDdn

— RT (@RT_com) December 15, 2014

The area is a constant tourist attraction, and according to The Herald Sun, a plot to execute a public beheading was thwarted in September.

In addition to evacuating the surrounding area, the Australian government is working to understand the motivation behind the attack.

“We don’t know whether this is politically motivated,” Prime Minister Tony Abbott says on reported hostage taking. http://t.co/02SVSxOrFt

— CNN Breaking News (@cnnbrk) December 15, 2014

This is a breaking news story. We will continue to update this story as it unfolds.

Here’s a comment I noted …so I shared with the story …

John SP • 7 minutes ago