According to the Reuters media service, an express deliveryman who witnessed the attacks has told them that the attackers were ‘dressed in black and looked professional’. Police said the attack has ended and that security forces were in control of the area.
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He condemned the act, which he says has spread terror among the Indonesian people.
A lorry load of explosions and rounds of gunfire have rocked the Indonesian capital of Jakarta.
One of the blasts reportedly occurred near a Starbucks.
The first explosions happened shortly before 11 a.m., when a suicide bomber blew themselves up at a Starbucks. All employees are safe, the company said.
A customer at the Starbucks was wounded, the company said, adding that all its stores in the city were being closed as a precaution.
“We will declare the situation secure soon”.
The national intelligence agency chief said there was no indication that IS militants had carried out the attack. Thursday’s assaults took place in a busy shopping area close to many embassies and a United Nations office.
REUTERS/BeawihartaIndonesian workers run as they are evacuated from their office at Thamrin business district in Jakarta January 14, 2016.
As well as the suicide bombers, four explosive devices were detonated during the attacks – one in Starbucks, after the suicide bombing, and during a shootout between police and the assailants.
Police said that Islamic State had threatened to put Indonesia in the “spotlight”. “I can see probably about 40 police, tactical or S.W.A.T. type police right now”.
More than 9,000 police were also deployed in Bali.
Thursday’s attack “sounds like the Paris attack to me”, Behr said, in that the attackers were coordinating attacks and using bombs and automatic weapons.
Police poured into the Skyline Building, looking for other gunmen.
Indonesia has been attacked by Islamist militant groups in the past and was on high alert over the new year period after threats from the so-called Islamic State (IS).
Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubeir says the attack should “strengthen our resolve to work effectively together to combat the scourge of terrorism”. Police identified them as an Algerian and a Westerner.
A policeman stands guard in front of the blast site.
“So we think… their plan was to attack people and follow it up with a larger explosion when more people gathered”, said Maj.
Police have been largely successful in destroying domestic militant cells since then, but officials have more recently been worrying about a resurgence inspired by groups such as IS and Indonesians who return after fighting with the group.
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Jakarta police state that they received information in late November indicating that “there will be a concert” in Indonesia, meaning there would be an attack, according to a report from the New York Times.
