Hostages seen running from cafe under seige
- 9 years ago
An armed assailant was holding an unknown number of hostages in a central Sydney cafe on Monday, shutting down Australia's largest city and raising fears it could be an attack by Islamist militant sympathisers.
Six hours after the mid-morning siege began, television showed three hostages running out of the Lindt chocolate cafe and sheltering behind a heavily armed, black-clad SWAT team.
Police said it was not known exactly how many more hostages remained in the cafe but it was not as high as the 30-40 that had been reported earlier. The remaining hostages were being held by at least one armed assailant, police said, but did not rule out that others could be involved.
Six hours after the mid-morning siege began, television showed three hostages running out of the Lindt chocolate cafe and sheltering behind a heavily armed, black-clad SWAT team.
Police said it was not known exactly how many more hostages remained in the cafe but it was not as high as the 30-40 that had been reported earlier. The remaining hostages were being held by at least one armed assailant, police said, but did not rule out that others could be involved.