Five hostages escape Lindt Cafe siege in Australia

About five hostages, including two women, have reportedly escaped from the Lindt Chocolate Cafe in Martin Place, Australia, where an undisclosed number of people have been held hostage by an armed gunman since this morning.

However, the Australian Police currently are negotiating with the armed gunman who has been holding an unknown number of people hostages at the cafe.

The armed gunman entered the cafe just before 10am local time, hijacked the cafe with staff and customers and forced some of them to hold up a black Islamic flag against the window.

With the building located in the central business district of Sydney being heavily surrounded by police, the circumstances of hostages’ exit presently remain uncertain.

Lindt Australia chief executive officer was quoted by news.com.au as saying that nearly 40 to 50 people, including customers and staff are inside the cafe.

Further, the New South Wales Police claim that the number of hostages within the building were below 30, and noted that the circumstances were not being treated as a terror incident.

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said: "This is obviously a deeply concerning incident but all Australians should be reassured that our law enforcement and security agencies are well trained and equipped and are responding in a thorough and professional manner.

"We don’t yet know the motivation of the perpetrator.

"We don’t know whether this is politically motivated, although obviously there are some indications that it could be."

Further, a National Security Committee of Cabinet meeting has also been convened by Abott in Canberra for briefings on the condition that that has completely shut down central Sydney.

Australia has augmented its threat level to high and has been on high alert against attacks by radicalised Muslims or by home-grown militants.