Sydney hostage situation

UPDATED: 2 p.m. Eastern / 6 a.m. in Sydney

Sydney police stormed a cafe where a gunman held an unconfirmed number of hostages for more than 16 hours, killing the gunman and freeing the hostages. Two, however, were killed in the operation. Mashable covered the siege live, below. See how it happened.

Five things you need to know:

Police stormed Lindt cafe in Martin Place late Monday night in a storm of gunfire and flash-bang grenades.

The gunman, who police identified as Man Haron Monis, was killed.

Two hostages, a man and a woman in their 30s, were killed in the operation. Four other hostages were injured.

The gunman forced hostages to hold an Islamic flag (not an ISIS flag) in the window, raising fears that it was politically motivated.

Sydney police called the siege an "isolated incident" by the work of a lone individual.

Video of hostage escape

Our coverage of the event