In recent years, Indonesian counterterrorism forces successfully stamped out the extremist group Jemaah Islamiyah that was responsible for several attacks, including the 2002 bombings of bars in Bali which killed 202 people, as well as two hotel bombings in Jakarta in 2009 that killed seven people.
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He declined to disclosed the identities of the new suspects or details concerning the operation, believed to have been led by crack commandos from Detachment 88 between Friday and Saturday.
In a statement published online, the jihadist group said that a number of bombs “detonated at the same time as attacks from soldiers of the caliphate… with light weapons and suicide belts”.
Indonesia has seen attacks by Islamist militants before, but a coordinated assault by a team of suicide bombers and gunmen is unprecedented and has echoes of the sieges seen in Mumbai seven years ago and in Paris last November.
Police said late on Friday that two of the attackers had been identified as raids continued across the country to track down any other militants in the networks they belonged to.
The Associated Press is reporting that Police have told an Indonesian TV channel that they have arrested three men on suspicion of links to the attack in Jakarta.
Dwiyono, who goes by one name, says the men are being questioned over possible links to the attack Thursday that killed seven.
Police found a flag of the Islamic State group in one attacker’s home.
“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. The terrorist group known as the Islamic State, or IS, claimed responsibility for the attacks.
In this Thursday, Jan. 14, 2016 photo, students light candles during a solidarity for those affected by a deadly attack in Jakarta, during a vigil in Surabaya, East Java, Indonesia.
All of the attackers were killed either by their suicide vests or by law enforcement.
Indonesian authorities named the mastermind of the Jakarta attack as Bahrun Naim, who reports said had been living in the IS-held town of Raqqa.
Jakarta residents remained shaken by Thursday’s events but refused to be cowed.
He said Indonesia needed to strengthen its own capabilities and information sharing with other countries, because the terror threat was “not home grown in Indonesia but it is part of a global network”.
Jakarta-based terrorism analyst Rakyan Adibrata said the public response points to an Indonesian skin thickened by a history of political and economic crises, natural disasters and persistent corruption.
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A large LCD screen atop the building containing the Starbucks displayed messages saying ‘(hash)prayforjakarta” and “Indonesia Unite’.
