Police say a hostage situation in Sydney is over after a swarm of heavily armed police stormed a downtown cafe where a gunman had been holding an unknown number of people.
A police spokesman confirmed “the operation is over” early Tuesday but would not release further details.
Police swooped into the Lindt Chocolat Cafe shortly after five or six hostages were seen running out of the building.
After the police moved in, one weeping woman was helped out by the officers, and at least two other people were wheeled out on stretchers.
Five people had already escaped from a Sydney cafe, where a gunman took an unknown number of hostages at the height of Monday morning rush hour. Two people inside the cafe, apparently hostages, were earlier seen holding up a black flag containing an Islamic declaration of faith that has often been used by extremists, raising fears that a terrorist incident was playing out in the heart of the business district of Australia’s biggest city.
