Breaking: Hostages Being Held By “Islamists” in Sydney Cafe

Photo credit: Channel 7 / Twitter

Between 13 – 50 hostages are being held by armed men in a siege in a cafe in Sydney, Australia.

From The Telegraph UK:

Twenty hostages have been taken by gunmen – apparently Islamic extremists – at a popular café in Martin Place, the heart of Sydney.

The siege began at the Lindt chocolate shop café at about 9.45am, local time, and has brought the city to a standstill.

Horrifying images have emerged showing hostages holding up a black flag with Arabic writing against the café window which looks out across the busy pedestrian mall in the centre of Sydney’s central business district.

Heavily armed police have surrounded the cafe. So far, it is believed that there is only one gunman, but reports are conflicting and details still are unclear.

Unfortunately, that isn’t the only incident going on in the area.

From BBC News:

Police have also said that they are dealing with an “incident” at the Sydney Opera House which has been evacuated.

Local media are reporting that a suspicious package was found there on Monday, though it was unclear whether it was connected to the Martin Place incident.

…

Australia has been facing a growing terror threat in recent months, in part connected to the fight against the Islamic State militant group in Syria and Iraq.

In September, the largest anti-terror raids in Australian history were carried out in Sydney and Brisbane after intelligence emerged that people were planning to carry out random attacks on Australian soil.

We will update this story as it develops.

Update 1:

We have reports of further buildings being evacuated. We are being cautious in our reporting so we will not go into any further detail but other buildings in the area have been evacuated throughout the morning.

The Sydney Opera House, which is about a kilometre and a half from Martin Place, has been evacuated. It is not clear why and there are conflicting reports about the reasons. (source)

Update 2:

• Heavily armed police have taken up position around the Lindt cafe in central Sydney
• Hostages have been seen inside the cafe with their hands in the air
• Black flag with white Arabic writing reading “There is no God but Allah” and “Mohammed is the messenger of God” waved behind the hostages
• Martin Place and Sydney Opera House have been evacuated
• National Security Committee of Cabinet has convened; Prime Minister Tony Abbott described incident as “deeply concerning” and offered NSW all assistance possible. (from ABC News)

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