Swoop ... an injured hostage is wheeled to an ambulance after shots were fired during a cafe siege at Martin Place. Picture: AP Source: AP

A flurry of loud bangs erupted early Tuesday as a swarm of heavily armed police stormed a downtown Sydney cafe where a gunman had been holding an unknown number of people hostage for more than 16 hours.

Freed ... hostages run to safety with their hands up as police swoop on the Lindt Cafe in Sydney’s Martin Place. Picture: Getty Source: Getty Images

Two people are reportedly dead and three are seriously injured, according to Channel 7 reports.

AFP reports that the hostage-taker is among two dead in the siege.

A photographer at the scene saw what appeared to be a body, covered by a bloodstained sheet, being stretchered out of the cafe after heavily armed officers entered in a volley of explosions and flashes.

One hostage is being treated in hospital for a gunshot wound to the leg, AP reports.
A number of ambulances could be seen taking injured from the scene as paramedics rushed to help.

Police swooped into the Lindt Chocolat Cafe shortly after five or six hostages were seen running out of the building with their hands up.

Siege ends ... paramedics work on an injured hostage as injured people are carried out of the cafe. Picture: AFP Source: AFP

After the police moved in, one weeping woman was helped out by the officers and at least two other people were wheeled out on stretchers.

Police were also seen performing CPR on two people, amid reports two people are dead and three injured. Three Sydney hospitals are on standby ready to receive injured, reports say.

An Associated Press photographer near the scene heard a loud bang and saw five or six hostages running out of the Lindt Chocolat Cafe in downtown Sydney early this morning before police swooped in.

Free ... An injured hostage is carried to an ambulance. (AP Photo/Rob Griffith) Source: AP

The dramatic scene unfolded shortly after the gunman was identified by local media as Iranian-born Man Haron Monis, who is facing charges including sexual assault and accessory to murder in separate cases.

Monis has long been on officials’ radar. Last year, he was sentenced to 300 hours of community service for writing offensive letters to families of soldiers killed in Afghanistan.

Dash to safety ... a hostage past police after escaping from the Lindt Cafe. Picture: AFP Source: AFP

He was later charged with being an accessory to the murder of his ex-wife. Earlier this year, he was charged with the sexual assault of a woman in 2002.

He has been out on bail on the charges.

Rescue ... The terrified woman is carried out by police from the Lindt Cafe. Picture: Getty Source: Getty Images

“This is a one-off random individual. It’s not a concerted terrorism event or act. It’s a damaged goods individual who’s done something outrageous,” his former lawyer, Manny Conditsis, told Australian Broadcasting Corp.

“His ideology is just so strong and so powerful that it clouds his vision for common sense and objectiveness,” Conditsis said.