SYDNEY (AP) — Police in Sydney are negotiating with a gunman who's holding an unknown number of people hostage in a downtown cafe.

Five hostages escaped earlier in the day.

The police commissioner in New South Wales says, "We have not yet confirmed it is a terrorism-related event," but TV footage shot through the cafe's windows showed several people with their arms in the air and two people holding up a black flag with the Shahada, or Islamic declaration of faith, written on it.

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