This is a breaking story. We’ll update this post as new information comes in.
Two men have taken a group of as many as 40 people hostage in a Lindt chocolate shop in Sydney, Australia, and have been holding them for several hours.
The shop is in Martin Place, less than a mile from the Sydney Opera House, in Sydney’s financial district. The siege began at about 9:45am Monday local time (10:45pm Sunday GMT). At one point, the hostages were apparently forced to display a black flag with what looks like Arabic script on it:
Here’s a photo of a flag being displayed by hostages in the Sydney cafe, photo via @morningshowon7 pic.twitter.com/LjU7NrSTrR
— BuzzFeed Australia (@BuzzFeedOz) December 14, 2014
To follow updates in real time go to:
- Australia’s ABC News, which is running a live-blog on the situation
- The Sydney Morning Herald‘s live-blog.
- National public broadcaster ABC News is broadcasting live online.
- So is 7 News, though the broadcast is not available in all markets.
- The New South Wales police force is posting regular updates on Twitter.
By just after noon local time, police had evacuated the nearby streets and had the cafe surrounded:
PM @TonyAbbottMHR‘s press conference due shortly at 12:30pm. Dozens of armed police at scene of #sydneysiege pic.twitter.com/hjdMtsYsjF
— ABC News Sydney (@abcnewsSydney) December 15, 2014
Many on Twitter are referring to the flag displayed as an ISIS or ISIL flag, though it looks different from the one usually used by the Islamic State group.
Stop calling this the flag in the Sydney Lindt hostage situation the #ISIS flag. It’s clearly a different flag. pic.twitter.com/7141F7pzk6
— Gideon Lichfield (@glichfield) December 14, 2014
It has been identified as a precisely-detailed reproduction of the shahada, the statement of faith that many Islamic militant groups use on their banners:
An estimated 90 Australians have gone to fight with ISIL in Syria and Iraq.
Earlier this year, Australian security forces broke up a plot by ISIL sympathizers to kidnap and execute an Australian citizen in Martin Place, the site of the Lindt cafe as well as the live TV studios for the Channel 7 TV station. The Sydney Morning Herald reports that Martin Place has long been seen as a potential terror target.
A hostage crisis is unfolding in Sydney, with a possible Islamist militant connection
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