An audacious attack by suicide bombers in the heart of Indonesia’s capital was funded by the Islamic State group, police said Friday, as they seized an IS flag from the home of one of the attackers and carried out raids across the country in which one suspected militant was killed.
Advertisement
AT LEAST seven people-five assailants and two civilians-were killed and 20 injured in a series of explosions and gun battles at a security gate next to a Starbucks and Burger King, a United Nations office and a police post in central Jakarta on January 14th.
Returning to the area outside Jakarta’s oldest department store Sarinah, where Thursday’s attack unfolded, the city’s police chief said the rise of the Islamic State group was a cause for serious concern.
The so-called Islamic State claimed responsibility for suicide bombings and shootings in Jakarta yesterday – the first time it has targeted the world’s largest Muslim country.
The Islamic State group claimed the attack was carried out by its “soldiers” against citizens from the “crusader coalition”, referring to the US-led alliance combating the jihadists.
Police have told an Indonesian TV channel that they have arrested three men on suspicion of links to the attack in Jakarta. It was not immediately clear whether they had direct links with the attacks.
Charilyan said police had received information in late November about a warning from the Islamic State group that “there will be a concert” in Indonesia, meaning an attack.
While the three men were reportedly suspected to be ISIS supporters, they were not directly linked to Thursday’s attack in Jakarta, police said.
The victims were an Indonesian and a Canadian, and a further 15 people and five police were wounded.
Harits Abu Ulya, an expert on radical Islam, said he expected more attacks.
“Now we are sweeping in and outside Java, because we have captured several members of their group, and have identified them”, Indonesian National Police spokesman Anton Charliyan said.
Indonesia’s MetroTV broadcast footage of the handcuffed men being escorted by police.
The style of the attack, and the people who appear to be behind it, suggest that remnants of the networks responsible for the notorious 2002 Bali bombings and other assaults are trying to regroup under the banner of the Islamic State group.
The Islamic State (IS) militant group has said it was behind the attack.
Workers clean debris outside a Starbucks cafe, near the site Thursday’s attack in Jakarta.
Heavily armed police soon swarmed the scene, firing on the militants and looking for other attackers.
“This act is clearly aimed at disturbing public order and spreading terror among people”, President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, said in a statement on television. “And we hope our counterparts in other countries can work together because it is not home-grown terrorism, it is part of the IS network”.
Co-ordinating Security Minister Luhut Pandjaitan says police have the investigation in hand.
In recent weeks, Indonesian police have been on high alert, while military operations focus on hitting the East Indonesian Mujahadeen, helmed by Indonesia’s most-wanted terrorist, Santoso, who has pledged support for ISIS.
Advertisement
The rally, entitled “We Are Not Afraid of Terror”, is set to take place at 4 p.m. local time on Friday, according to a widely shared poster on social media.
