Hostages seen holding up Islamic message inside cafe

UPDATE 12:04 pm: Gunman and two hostage are dead.

Australian police have ended a 16 hour siege that took place in a cafe in Sydney Australia when a  violent Muslim jihadist took more than a dozen persons hostage.

ABCNews in Australia is reporting on the end of a dangerous and tense situation in a Lindt cafe in Sydney where an armed Iranian man named Man Monis entered the building at about 9:45 a.m. (AEDT) and took an estimated 15 people hostage.

Shortly after police were summoned to the scene, hostages inside the cafe were seen pressing a black flag against the window with Arabic writing spelling out the phrase: "There is no God but Allah and Mohammed is the messenger of God."

Several hours into the siege, five hostages ran out of the building and reporters close to the scene said Monis appeared to fly into a rage when the hostages escaped.

"The gunman could be seen from here getting extremely agitated, shouting at remaining hostages," tweeted journalist Chris Reason.

Reason was also close enough to the windows of the cafe to discern that the hostages are men and women of various ages, and none appear to be children.

Police were able to storm the cafe, firing automatic weapons as the remaining hostages ran for their lives.

The situation was critical because Monis has a history of violence. He is a known sex offender and self-styled sheikh who is best known for launching a hateful letter campaign against the families of Australian soldiers who died in Afghanistan.

However, the 50 year-old refugee from Iran who came to Australia in 1996 was also charged as an accessory to the murder of his ex wife last year who was stabbed in a stairwell and then set on fire.

This year he was charged with sexually assaulting a young woman who went to him for "spiritual healing" and is currently out on bail for that crime.

Chris Dion, owner of the CBD cafe which is nearby the Lindt cafe, said the people who poured into his cafe as the siege unfolded were "terrified".

"We've got the TV on here. Everybody is coming in to have a look and see what's going on in Martin Place," he said. "I'm in disbelief to be honest. We live in a beautiful country and this is happening right here in Sydney?"

The Grand Mufti of Australia, Professor Ibrahim Abu Mohamed, released a statement saying the Muslim community was "devastated" by the incident.

"The Grand Mufti and the Australian National Imam Council condemn this criminal act unequivocally and reiterate that such actions are denounced in part and in whole in Islam."

At present, it is not known if the gunman has ties to outside terrorist groups; however, Professor Greg Barton of the Global Terrorism Research Center says the black flag held in the window was more likely meant to express a link with a terrorist group than to be a statement of faith.

"It's likely a link with its groups, and what's happening in Syria, rather than a statement of faith," he told 702 ABC Sydney. "But it could also be a single lone wolf attacker."

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