A witness describes a series of what are believed to be suicide bomb blasts at a Starbucks in Jakarta on Thursday.
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Jakarta police chief Maj.-Gen. The shooting was happening outside a Starbucks opposite the shopping center.
“A source to Aamaq: Fighters from the Islamic State carried out this morning an armed attack that targeted foreigners and the security forces tasked with protecting them in the Indonesian capital Jakarta”, it said.
Analysts say the level of coordination required for the multiple attacks on Thursday clearly indicates that ISIS is behind the assault.
Global Affairs Canada said Ottawa was working with Indonesian authorities to confirm the identity of the Canadian.
President Widodo was outside Jakarta when the attack unfolded but was cutting short his trip to return to the sprawling capital of more than 10 million people by helicopter. “We are aware of media reports that a Canadian may have been among the victims”.
Political analyst Yohanes Sulaiman told New York Times that while the Indonesian police had “done a good job in preventing such attacks”, the government has not been able to stop the radicalism.
Islamic State group backers have circulated a claim of responsibility on Twitter for attack.
Jeremy Douglas, of Port Perry, Ont., was in a auto when he first got a call from a United Nations security officer advising him there had been a blast very close to the office he was heading to. Local authorities cite the total death count as seven, including five suspected attackers. “It was right across the street, kitty-corner to the office, about 100 metres”, the 44-year-old told The Canadian Press.
He added that although the Indonesian police last month successfully foiled a terrorist bombing and arrested nine individuals with alleged links to ISIS, the scale of threat is too high for the government capabilities deployed to fight it. Dr Gunaratna is professor of security studies at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyang Technological University.
“They started a shootout in the street”, he said. “It was pretty insane”. The U.N. Environment Programme said a Dutch staff member is among the injured.
The attack came after several warnings in recent weeks from police that Islamic militants were planning something big. Later, Jakarta police spokesman Col. Muhammad Iqbal said four of the attackers were killed, and their bodies retrieved. With our collective efforts, we can make a difference in securing our people from any terror acts.
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The country saw a spate of militant attacks in the 2000s, the deadliest of which was a nightclub bombing on the holiday island of Bali that killed 202 people, a lot of them tourists.
