Sydney Hostage Siege: Police Storm Cafe, Large Spurts Of Gunfire Heard

460495212 — An injured hostage is carried out of a café in the central business district of Sydney, Dec. 16, 2014. Police stormed the café, where a gunman had taken hostages and displayed an Islamic flag, television footage showed early Dec. 16. PETER PARKS/AFP/Getty Images

Gunshots rang out as police stormed a Sydney, Australia, café where Man Haron Monis, a self-styled Iranian Islamic cleric, took around 30 people hostage earlier Monday morning, Sydney time. An unconfirmed number of hostages have fled the café, most recently as police began their assault, according to the Associated Press.

At least four people were brought out on stretchers, according to Sky News, while another five hostages fled the place on foot. Monis claimed there were at least two bombs in the café and two in surrounding areas. Police negotiators were working through the night, according to Australian media, but experts say Australian police were forced to act because hostages were in grave danger.

UPDATE 10:48 a.m. EDT: Police announced the hostage situation is "over," reported the AP.