Sydney - The café in Sydney, Australia where an Islamic State sympathiser took 18 people hostage in mid-December will re-open Friday, the owners said.
Police stormed the Lindt Cafée in the city centre and shot dead the Iranian-born hostage-taker Man Haron Monis.
They moved in after Monis shot dead the café manager Tori Johnson. A second hostage, Katrina Dawson, was later found to have been killed by police gunfire.
The siege that lasted more than 16 hours shocked locals and made international headlines. Live television footage showing distraught hostages holding a black Islamic flag to the café window and some of the hostages making a dramatic escape.
Lindt Australia chief executive Steve Loane said on Facebook the café would reopen on Friday.
"We feel that reopening the café to the public and moving forward positively is the right thing to do," he said.
Loane said a plaque would be put in the café in memory of Johnson and Dawson.
Australia raised its national terrorism threat level to high in September and announced tougher counter-terrorism measures.
The government said citizens who support militant Islamist groups such as Islamic State in the Middle East pose a growing threat to national security.
