@rConflictNews This is an alleged image of the ringleader in the hostage situation in #Sydney live updates: http://www.conflict-news.com/live-feeds/sydney-cafe-hostage-situation/ …
@rConflictNews This is an alleged image of the ringleader in the hostage situation in #Sydney live updates: http://www.conflict-news.com/live-feeds/sydney-cafe-hostage-situation/ …
If there is only him and he is that visible why is he not already dead?
If there is only him and he is that visible why is he not already dead?
Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QaD38oZqpEA
WATCH: Gunman Holding More Than 20 Hostages in Sydney, Australia
Published on Dec 14, 2014
(UPI) Gunman takes hostages in Australian chocolate shop, displays black flag with Arabic writing
Experts have said the flag “represents a general expression of faith in Islam” and is not an Islamic State or al-Qaida flag, though it has been used by some jihadist groups.
SYDNEY, Dec. 14 (UPI) — A gunman has taken several people hostage in a chocolate shop in Australia’s capital, forcing some to hold up a black flag with Arabic writing in the shop’s window.
Just before 10 a.m. Monday, Australian Eastern Daylight Time, the gunman held up a Lindt Chocolate Cafe in Martin Place, a business district in Sydney. At least 20 people were taken hostage inside the cafe. Australian media captured footage of hostages with their hands in the air and against a cafe window, holding up a black flag with Arabic writing.
Police in military gear have cordoned off the area and asked people to avoid Sydney’s central business district as the situation unfolds.
“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,” Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbot said in a statement.
“The flag being shown in the window is not an Islamic State flag, nor one for the other best-known jihadist group Jabhat al-Nusra,” national security correspondent David Wroe told the Sydney Morning Herald. “Rather, it appears to be a Shahada flag, which represents a general expression of faith in Islam, though has been co-opted by various jihadist groups.”
However, Greg Barton, a terrorism expert at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia, told the Herald that “getting hold of an [Islamic State] flag would be quite difficult, and people will make do with what they have got. That means it doesn’t help confirm or rule out that the hostage-takers’ affiliation is with Islamic State or any other group.”