Another 19 people were reportedly injured in the violence.
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Police secured the area after the attack. It was not immediately clear if they exploded bombs or grenades. Police say the attackers were on motorcycles and on foot. “The gang behind the attack is fighters from IS (Islamic State) that is based in Raqqa”, he told a news conference.
So far there have been no claims of responsibility, but one analyst likened the attacks to the November 13 Paris massacre in which terrorists linked to ISIS struck several locations at the same time. The brazenness of their siege suggested a new brand of militancy in a country where low-level strikes on police are common.
Jakarta police chief Maj.-Gen.
Indonesia’s central bank is located in the same area, and a spokesman for the bank said a policy meeting was going ahead and a decision on interest rates would be announced as planned later in the day. He said one police officer was badly injured in that incident.
Two of the militants were taken alive, police said.
National Police spokesman Major General Anton Charliyan said security was focused on anticipating attacks in vulnerable regions, including Jakarta. He said the other two attackers, carrying handguns, entered a police post from where he heard gunfire.
He says: “We believe there are no more attackers around Sarinah”.
An Indonesian and a Canadian were killed in the attack and 20 people, including a Dutchman who works for the United Nations Environment Programme, were wounded. A 2002 bombing on the resort island of Bali killed 202 people, the majority of them Australian nationals.
Police earlier had said four attackers and three civilians had died, though confused and conflicting death tolls are common in the immediate aftermath of a terror attack.
Islamic State group backers have circulated a claim of responsibility on Twitter for attack.
“Our nation and our people should not be afraid, we will not be defeated by these acts of terror”, he said, in comments broadcast by MetroTV. Gun battles between armed police officers and the attackers broke out in the streets soon afterward.
Indonesian President Joko Widodo, who visited the scene, condemned the “acts of terror” and urged Indonesians to stay clam.
Last month, anti-terror police in the country arrested nine men and said ISIS had wanted to “perform a “concert” to attract global news coverage of their existence here”, according to Reuters.
A reporter for Australia’s ABC was told by police shortly after the blasts that they were related to terrorist group ISIS, though Indonesian intelligence chief Sutiyoso later said that they did not yet know if Islamic State was involved.
“It also reflects greater organizational capacity to deploy multiple personnel not seen since 2009”, he said. “That’s why Bahrun Naim plotted this attack”, he said.
Indonesia has suffered militant attacks in the past and was on high alert over the New Year period after threats from Daesh.
“In recent years, Indonesian security forces have effectively kept domestic terrorism in check, and they have killed or jailed many militants”.
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Indonesia has the largest population of Muslims in the world, but it’s government is secular and, as the Times points out, Christians, Hindus and Buddhists are part of an influential minority.
