An armed man took a dozen hostages at a bank in Georgia’s second-largest city of Kutaisi on Tuesday, demanding a large sum of money, officials said.

The Black Sea nation’s interior ministry said the suspect was holed up at a Bank of Georgia branch in the town of around 150,000 people in central Georgia.

“For the moment, there are 12 hostages in the building,” it added in a statement.

The ministry said police had deployed to the bank to resolve the crisis.

An investigation was opened into a “terrorist act, hostage-taking and illegal possession of firearms,” the ministry added.

The independent Mtavari TV station aired a mobile phone video shot by one of the hostages, which shows what he says are two explosive devices on the entrance door.

“He (the hostage-taker) says these are bombs which will explode if the door opens,” the hostage says.

Another video shows the alleged hostage-taker — a masked gunman in military fatigues — and the bank interior.

A female hostage is heard saying: “His demand is two million dollars within three hours. He has a hand grenade and there are bombs which will explode.”

In October 2020, a gunman took 43 people hostage in a Bank of Georgia branch in the western city of Zugdidi.

He freed all the hostages, escaping with an unspecified amount of cash, and has never been detained. (Courtesy, excluding headline, AFP)