Jakarta’s busy downtown district was rocked by several explosions and gunfire on Thursday morning (Jan 14).
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As ISIS claims responsibility for the sickening terror attack in Indonesia today, footage of one of the killers detonating their suicide bombs has emerged online.
The Guardian reports that Risky Julianti, 25, a sales promoter at the Sarinah Mall, said she heard at least five more blasts and saw three people dead.
Concerns have already been expressed about the safety of the city, which is also due to host an Indonesian Moto GP in 2017.
Starbucks said all of its stores in Jakarta would remain closed until further notice. But given the firepower the attackers carried – handguns, grenades and homemade bombs – and the soft targets they picked in a bustling, crowded area, the casualties were relatively few compared to the mayhem and carnage caused by the Paris attacks.
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.
The motive for the attack is not yet clear, but CNN security analyst Bob Baer said it had the hallmarks of an Islamic State operation.
According to police chief Karnavian an Indonesian national named Bahrun Naim, who is believed to be working with the IS in Syria, has been planning the attack for a while.
Last year, it was reported that at least 50 Indonesians had joined the thousands of foreign fighters who had traveled to Syria to help extremist groups trying to create an Islamic state there.
Soldiers from the major services of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and members of the Philippine National Police (PNP) walk on EDSA, Feb. 25, 2015.
But they come just weeks after Jakarta was placed on high alert after anti-terror police foiled what they said were plans for a New Year suicide attack in the Indonesian capital. “We have taken control”, Iqbal said, adding that two of the assailants were killed by police but did not elaborate on how the others had died.
Police have been commended for breaking down terror networks in Indonesia, including Jemaah Islamiyah, the perpetrators of the 2002 Bali bombing, in which a nightclub was bombed.
He said that of the two civilians killed, one was a foreigner.
“Our nation and our people should not be afraid, we will not be defeated by these acts of terror, I hope the public stay calm”, he told local broadcaster MetroTV.
– with files from the Associated Press.
The Reuters news agency, citing an unidentified police source, said the Canadian and a police officer were killed in the attack. “Didn’t experience this in 3.5 years in Pakistan, ” he wrote.
Indonesia – the world’s most populous Muslim nation – has been a victim of several bombing attacks in the past, claimed by Islamic militant groups.
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On Tuesday, jailed radical Islamic cleric Abu Bakar Bashir appealed to a court to have his conviction for funding a terror training camp overturned, arguing that his support for the camp was an act of worship.
