An Indian might be among those inside the cafe in Sydney where a gunman is holding hostages. - The Wall Street Journal An Indian information technology worker might be among the hostages being held by a gunman at a cafe in Sydney, according to a government minister. “There is some information that one of our Indian IT professionals is there,” M. Venkaiah Naidu, minister for urban development, told reporters in Delhi on Monday. He added that the Indian government was keeping in touch with officials from the Indian consulate in Sydney that was evacuated early Monday. The consulate is located a just a few blocks away from the Lindt Chocolate Café where the siege is taking place. The incident began around 9.45 a.m. in Martin Place, in the heart of the Australian city’s business district. Some six hours after the siege began, three people fled from the cafe. One ran from a fire exit as police pointed guns from behind shields into the doorway. The two others ran to safety from the front door. Police didn’t say whether the three escaped or were released. About an hour later at around 5 p.m., two women left the cafe, which brought the number of escapees to five. It wasn’t clear if the attack was linked to hard-line Islamist groups which have been the focus of a crackdown by authorities in recent weeks. New South Wales Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione confirmed that an armed attacker was holding an undisclosed number of hostages in a building in the Martin Place area. Local media quoted the head of Lindt & Sprungli in Australia, the owner of the cafe, as saying there likely would have been as many as 10 staff members and 30 customers inside when the armed man entered. Company officials couldn’t be reached for comment. Police declined to say how many people were thought to be inside but said that it likely was not as high as 40.
Posted on: Mon, 15 Dec 2014 08:38:17 +0000