Man in hostage standoff near Sydney court

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Source: Associated Press

A man claiming to have a bomb in his backpack has triggered a hostage situation near an Australian court complex in western Sydney.

Police have cordoned off a building in a tense standoff with the man who is understood to be issuing demands from a lawyer's office where he holed up with his teenage daughter, police said.

A cordon has been maintained around the lawyers' office building in the Sydney suburb of Parramatta, and workers in nearby office blocks said they had been evacuated.

The man, who appeared to be in his 50s, made a series of demands to police negotiators who were inside the office building, which adjoins a court complex, Police Assistant Commissioner Denis Clifford said. Clifford declined to detail those demands and said police had yet to establish a motive.

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/sep/06/sydney-man-hostage-parramatta-courts