That attack in Sultanahmet Square, between the popular Hagia Sophia and Blue Mosque tourist attractions, killed 10 German visitors.
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Speaking in the wake of Thursday’s attack, Clarke Jones, a counterterrorism expert at the Australian National University, said that such an incident is not a great surprise.
Police say the situation is now under control, with five suspected attackers among at least seven people killed.
He said the attackers imitated the recent “terror acts” in Paris and were likely from the Islamic State group, but gave no evidence. “And one fears that this is potentially becoming the new normal where ISIS affiliates carry out attacks independently from the leadership based in Syria”.
The assault began late Thursday morning on Thamrin Street, an entertainment and shopping district with various Western chain restaurants and stores.
Anton Charliyan, spokesman for the national police, said on local television that five attackers and two civilians – one Indonesian and one Canadian – had died. They also opened fire at people on the street. But given the firepower the attackers carried – handguns, grenades and homemade bombs – and the soft targets they picked in a bustling, crowded area, the casualties were relatively few compared to the mayhem and carnage caused by the Paris attacks.
1435 – Police said they suspected at least three suicide bombers.
Indonesian financial markets pared losses after falling sharply as several people were killed by explosions in central Jakarta in the biggest attack in the capital since 2009.
“We were so scared”, Kurniawan told CNN.
“We will continue to provide support and assistance to the government of Indonesia as they work to defeat those who plan and perpetrate these acts of terror”.
On Thursday afternoon, attackers blasted Starbucks cafe in downtown Jakarta.
Last month, anti-terror police in the country arrested nine men and said ISIS had wanted to “perform a “concert” to attract worldwide news coverage of their existence here”, according to Reuters.
By then, police had already counted five assailants dead at the scene.
Meanwhile, the number of victims is also in dispute.
Among the dead was at least one foreign national, authorities said.
Dutch Foreign Minister Bert Koenders said that one Dutch man was undergoing surgery.
As the brazen daytime attack unfolded, US citizens were warned in an emergency message from the Embassy to “shelter in place” until all the gunmen had been captured or killed.
The attack was declared over shortly after 3 p.m. local time (0800GMT). It was not clear if the explosion was a controlled detonation or a bomb. A Starbucks, Pizza hut and Burger King lie across the road next to the Djakarta Theater XXI cinema, while the five-star Sari Pan Pacific Jakarta hotel is the next building along and United Nations and government offices are also nearby.
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“That’s when I heard the second explosion”.
