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Pictures of hostages fleeing for their lives and police swarming around a Sydney cafe at the centre of a hostage crisis have emerged.
Around 15 people have been taken hostage by at least one gunman in the Lindt cafe on Martin Street, in the city’s Central Business District.
In dramatic scenes, five people - two women and tree women - were shown escaping the siege, which began at about 9.45am local time.
Two people inside the cafe were earlier seen holding up a flag with 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 Australia's biggest city.
Show all 32 1 /32In pictures: Sydney siege In pictures: Sydney siege Sydney siege A woman carried out by police from the Lindt Cafe after police stormed the Sydney cafe where a gunman had been holding hostages
In pictures: Sydney siege Sydney siege People run with hands up from the Lindt Cafe as police stormed the Sydney cafe where a gunman was holding hostages
In pictures: Sydney siege Sydney siege Hostages run towards armed tactical responce police as they run to freedom from a cafe under siege at Martin Place in the central business district of Sydney
In pictures: Sydney siege Sydney siege An injured hostage is wheeled to an ambulance after shots were fired during the cafe siege in Sydney
In pictures: Sydney siege Sydney siege A blood-stained stretcher is wheeled to an ambulance after shots were fired during the cafe siege in Sydney
In pictures: Sydney siege Sydney siege Paramedics remove a stretcher covered in a bloodstained blanket from the Sydney cafe stormed by Australian security forces as hostages were being held at gunpoint
REUTERS/David Gray
In pictures: Sydney siege Sydney siege An injured hostage is wheeled to an ambulance after shots were fired during the cafe siege in Sydney
In pictures: Sydney siege Sydney siege Police escort a hostage (2ndR) with the help of a paramedic (R) during a hostage siege in the central business district of Sydney
In pictures: Sydney siege Sydney siege Armed Australian police carry out an operation outside the cafe following an operation in the central business district of Sydney
In pictures: Sydney siege Sydney siege Armed Australian police engage in an operation outside the cafe following an operation in the central business district of Sydney
In pictures: Sydney siege Sydney siege Police push back a member of the public who tried to get into a building located near the Lindt cafe, where hostages are being held, at Martin Place in central Sydney
In pictures: Sydney siege sydney-siege-21.jpg A female hostage stands by the front entrance of the cafe as she turns the lights off
In pictures: Sydney siege Sydney siege Armed tactical response police personnel stand watch into the evening near a cafe under siege by a gunman at Martin Place in the central business district of Sydney
In pictures: Sydney siege Sydney siege A hostage runs towards a police officer outside a cafe, where other hostages are being held in Sydney
In pictures: Sydney siege Sydney siege A hostage runs towards a police officer outside a cafe, where other hostages are being held, in Martin Place in central Sydney
In pictures: Sydney siege Sydney siege A female employee hostage at the cafe manages to escape from the Lindt Chocolate cafe in Martin Place
In pictures: Sydney siege Sydney siege A hostage runs to armed tactical response police officers for safety after she escaped from a cafe under siege at Martin Place in the central business district of Sydney
In pictures: Sydney siege Sydney siege Two hostages run for cover behind a policeman during a hostage siege in a cafe in Sydney
In pictures: Sydney siege Sydney siege A hostage runs to safety outside the Lindt Cafe, Martin Place
In pictures: Sydney siege Sydney siege An armed policeman is seen in Phillip St in Sydney
In pictures: Sydney siege Sydney siege Police officers position themselves at a corner near Lindt cafe in Martin Place, where hostages are being held, in central Sydney
In pictures: Sydney siege Sydney siege A police officer runs across Martin Place near Lindt cafe, where hostages are being held, in central Sydney
In pictures: Sydney siege Sydney siege Hostages at the window
EPA
In pictures: Sydney siege Sydney siege This image taken from video shows a man believed to be a gunman inside a cafe in Sydney
In pictures: Sydney siege Sydney siege Catherine Burn, Deputy Commissioner of the Specialist Operations speaks to the media in relation to the Sydney hostage incident at Sydney Police Centre
In pictures: Sydney siege Sydney siege People standing behind a police cordon look towards Lindt cafe in Martin Place, where hostages are being held, in central Sydney
In pictures: Sydney siege Sydney siege Pedestrians are allowed under New South Wales (NSW) police tape during a siege in Martin Place
In pictures: Sydney siege Sydney siege Armed police patrol in Sydney. Major landmarks, including the Sydeny Opera House, have been evacuated as police respond to a hostage situation inside a Martin Place cafe
In pictures: Sydney siege Sydney siege Firemen are seen at a barricade on Castlereigh Street in Sydney
In pictures: Sydney siege Sydney siege A woman is assisted as a group of people are evacuated by police from a building next to Lindt cafe in Martin Place
In pictures: Sydney siege Sydney siege Police close a street where a cafe is being used to hold hostages in the central business district of Sydney
GETTY
In pictures: Sydney siege Sydney siege Police closed roads in the area and also stopped some trains from running after the alert was raised at about 9.45am on Monday local time.
EPA
Grainy stills taken from news footage appear to also show the armed assailant. Wearing a headband decorated with Arabic writing, he has claimed there are a further two bombs outside the shop as well as two explosive devices inside the building.
The hostage-taker has released a set of demands to police, who have asked media not to report on them.
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