Jewish institutions across Australia, including schools, are in lockdown Monday, cancelling excursions and maintaining tight security measures as the Community Security Group (CSG) raised the threat level to severe after a suspected Islamist terrorist went into Sydney’s Lindt Chocolate shop and took hostages .
The community has been asked to stay alert.
According to a police source, the armed man holding an unknown number of hostages in the cafe located in Sydney’s financial duistrict is an Iranian refugee convicted of sexual assault and known for sending hate letters to the families of Australian soldiers killed oversea.
Man Haron Monis, an Iranian refugee and self-styled sheikh, remained holed up in the cafe, located in Martin Place, a popular pedestrian strip, some 15 hours after the siege began.
Australian police locked down the center of the country's biggest city on Monday after an armed man walked into the busy downtown Sydney cafe, took hostages and forced them to display an Islamic State lag, igniting fears of a jihadist attack.
Police, including paramilitary officers, cordoned off several blocks around the cafe as negotiators tried to defuse one of the biggest security scares in Australia for decades. Snipers and a SWAT team took up positions around the cafe and police helicopters flew overhead.
At least five hostages have been released or escaped since the mid-morning siege began, with terrified cafe workers and customers seen running into the arms of paramilitary police.
Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott, who has warned of terrorist plans to strike Australian targets, said there were indications the hostage-taking was politically motivated.
"This is a very disturbing incident. I can understand the concerns and anxieties of the Australian people," Abbott told reporters in Canberra.
Australia, a staunch ally of the United States and its escalating action against the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, is on high alert for attacks by home-grown jihadists returning from fighting in the Middle East.
News footage showed hostages holding up a black and white flag displaying the Shahada - a testament to the faith of Muslims. The flag has been popular among Sunni Islamist terrorist groups such as Islamic State and al-Qaida.
In September, anti-terrorism police said they had thwarted an imminent threat to behead a random member of the public and days later, a teenager in the city of Melbourne was shot dead after attacking two anti-terrorism officers with a knife.