Australian police have cordoned off one of Sydney's main business areas, as at least 13 hostages, maybe as many as 50, are being held in a cafe.
At least 13 people are believed to be hostages. The street, in a business area of the city, is swarmed with police and live television footage showed cafe customers holding a black flag against the window
Five people have escaped the siege; first three men including one member of staff fled via the fire exit, then two women, both believed to be cafe workers ran from the front door towards armed officers.
Seven staff have counted around 15 hostages throughout the day, he said, rather than the 50 reported by Lindt Australia CEO Steve Loane.Deputy NSW Police Commissioner Catherine Burn said police were planning to 'work into the night' - and even tomorrow - should the crisis continue. Witnesses earlier described how a man wearing a headband covered in Arabic walked into the cafe and produced a shotgun from a blue bag around 9.45am.Shortly afterwards, hostages were seen with their hands pressed against the windows holding up the Islamic Shahada flag.
It is an emblem of extremist group Jabhat al-Nusra, which is fighting the Assad government in Syria. Armed police have sealed off streets around the cafe, office buildings went into lockdown and Martin Place train station is shut as officers operate according to Task Force Pioneer counter-terrorism protocols.
The incident began just hours after a 25-year-old suspect was arrested in a terror raid in Sydney's north-west. Deputy Commissioner Burn said police were currently assessing the health of the freed hostages.'They are now out of the building and are with police.
First thing we're doing is making sure they're okay. We will work with these people to find out some more information. The information I have is that no one has been harmed of injured,' she said. Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione said: 'We have moved to a footing that would be consistent with a terrorist event'.Officers are still trying to work out the motivation for the situation, according to Mr Scipione.
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