Hostages are being held by what witnesses say are at least two gunmen at a cafe in the central business district of Sydney on Monday. News footage shows the hostages were forced to hold up a flag with Arabic writing on it at the windows of the store.
One witness said two suspects arrived at the Lindt Chocolat Cafe before 10:00 a.m., with one of them holding a blue sports bag.
The pair entered the cafe and shut down the automatic sliding doors. Some hostages were ordered to press their hands against the windows and hold up a flag inscribed with Arabic words, but some reports say the flag is not one used by the Islamic State.
Unconfirmed reports state one of the gunmen contacted the police and said he had set up ‘devices all over the city’, and requested to speak to the prime minister live on radio.
Hundreds of police officers with heavy gear were deployed to Martin Place. Occupants of nearby buildings were evacuated. Authorities have set up an exclusion zone, which includes the Martin Place train station.
A 25-year-old man from north west Sydney suspected of planning a terrorist attack in Australia was detained this morning. Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said it’s not clear whether the attack was politically motivated.
-------------------------------------------------------------
Welcome to TomoNews, where we animate the most entertaining news on the internets. Come here for an animated look at viral headlines, US news, celebrity gossip, salacious scandals, dumb criminals and much more! Subscribe now for daily news animations that will knock your socks off.
For news that's fun and never boring, visit our channel:
https://www.youtube.com/user/TomoNewsUS
Subscribe to stay updated on all the top stories:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCt-WqkTyKK1_70U4bb4k4lQ?sub_confirmation=1
Visit our official website for all the latest, uncensored videos: https://us.tomonews.net
Check out our Android app: http://bit.ly/1rddhCj
Check out our iOS app: http://bit.ly/1gO3z1f
Stay connected with us here:
Facebook http://www.facebook.com/TomoNewsUS
Twitter @tomonewsus http://www.twitter.com/TomoNewsUS
Google+ http://plus.google.com/+TomoNewsUS/
Instagram @tomonewsus http://instagram.com/tomonewsus
