A suspected Islamist was holding hostages inside a chocolate shop in Sydney on Monday and police were monitoring posts on Facebook and Twitter as they tried to negotiate a release.
Five hostages have run free, but police would not confirm how many were still being held inside the Lindt cafe — where a black flag used by Islamist groups in the Middle East has been shown in the window.
Catherine Burn, deputy police commissioner in New South Wales state, wouldn’t discuss the gunman’s possible motive but said: We are in contact.
There is speculation about what he might want but we have to deal him on the level of a police negotiation, Burn told reporters. We are monitoring all forms of communication — Facebook, Twitter — for any information that might assist. We’re monitoring what is happening on Facebook … that is forming part of our tactical response.
The drama began shortly after 9:45 a.m. local time (5:45 p.m. ET Sunday). Lindt Australia Chief Executive Steve Loane told Sky Business there were probably 30 customers in the cafe and 10 workers. Police refused to confirm or speculate on the numbers involved.
The first hostages to emerge were three men, who ran out of side exits toward armed police. An hour or so later, two women ran out. Authorities wouldn’t say whether the hostages had escaped or were freed by the gunman, but they dashed out of the cafe in panic.
Our approach is to resolve this peacefully, Burn said. We are working through this methodically to make sure nobody is injured.
She added: It is an important part of the negotiations that that we won’t talk about tactics or information that is being passed on. It’s a well-tested system of negotiation that we use, it’s world class. It might take a bit of time but safety of the people inside is paramount.
Burn urged people in Sydney should remain calm. You should carry on your business as usual.
Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione said officers were responding on a footing consistent with a terrorism event.
Police have closed off nearby streets and evacuated nearby office buildings, making sure we can secure and resolve this matter to a peaceful outcome, Scipione said. The U.S. Consulate in Sydney was evacuated and all U.S. personnel had been accounted for, the State Department told NBC News.
We are being tested today, but we met that test head-on, New South Wales Premier Mike Baird said. It is something we must deal with, we will deal with. We are dealing with it.
The Lindt Chocolate Cafe is in Martin Place, a busy tourist, transportation and shopping district home to several major banks — including the Reserve Bank of Australia — as well as the state Parliament. The nearby Sydney Opera House cancelled Monday night’s performances.
The flag shown in the cafe’s window as the hostage drama unfolded appeared to be the Tawhid Banner, with the writing of the Muslim Shahada on it, There is no God but Allah, and Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, said Laith Alkhouri, director of research and analysis for Middle East and North Africa at Flashpoint Intelligence — a global security firm and NBC News counterterrorism consultant.
The flag is not exactly the ISIS banner, he said, referring to the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham — which has declared a caliphate covering parts of Syria and Iraq.
NBC News terrorism analyst Evan Kohlmann, added that the banner was frequently used by Jabhat Al-Nusra and other armed Islamist groups in the region — but not ISIS.
Chris Kenny, associate editor of the national newspaper The Australian, wrote on the paper’s website that he’d been in the cafe just five minutes before the gunman took over.
As police quickly swarmed and cleared the area, I turned to see a man against the window, facing out with his hands raised, Kenny wrote. At first I was relieved, thinking this was the gunman responding to police — but soon came the awful realization that customers were being forced against the windows.
Prime Minister Tony Abbott urged Australians to go about their business as usual, saying the whole point of politically motivated violence is to scare people out of being themselves.
Grand Mufti Ibrahim Abu Mohamed, the highest Islamic office holder in Australia, said in a statement that the Muslim community was devastated by the incident, adding that such actions are denounced in part and in whole in Islam.
The hostage incident comes after police carried out a series of major anti-terrorism raids throughout Sydney in September. ISIS spokesman Abu Muhammad al-Adnani has also urged Muslims in Australia to carry out lone-wolf attacks against civilians, according to terrorism analysts at the SITE Intelligence Group.
NBC News’ Andrea Mitchell and Marc Smith contributed to this report.