Police officers and a Dutch man were reported to be among those hurt in the attack and subsequent gunfight, though it was not clear if they were killed or wounded.
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“We’re of course going to be supporting the government in anything it needs from Canada through this hard time”. The UNEP said the man works for the organization in Jakarta and is a “renowned expert in forestry and ecosystems management” who is part of a team supporting the Indonesian government in tackling peatland fires.
The so-called Islamic State (IS) was behind a series of explosions and gun attacks in the capital Jakarta, an IS-linked news agency and police say.
The claim was shared on Twitter overnight.
In minutes, he had arrived at the building and was getting out of his vehicle when a second explosion occurred. That was about 100 metres away. “It was a big sizable explosion, definitely could hear it, you could feel it”.
Mr Seranto said the two other attackers, who were carrying handguns, entered a nearby police post from where he heard gunfire. Apparently they are using rifles and hand grenades.
It took security forces about three hours to end the siege, which is the first attack on the Muslim-majority country by ISIS. Those attacks in November killed 130 people.
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.
Tri Seranto, a bank security guard, told The Associated Press he saw at least five attackers, including three who triggered explosions at the Starbucks.
Last month an Indonesian anti-terror unit thwarted bomb attacks planned for the Christmas and New Year’s Eve period in Jakarta. “But thank God it didn’t happen”.
Details remain unclear, but at least one of the blasts hit a Starbucks cafe outside the Sarinah shopping centre and next to a police security post. The attackers targeted an area near a Starbucks cafe and Sarinah’s, Jakarta’s oldest department store. “We have taken control”, Jakarta police spokesman Colonel Muhammad Iqbal said.
“We must not be afraid, we must not be defeated by an act of terror like this”, Indonesian President Joko Widodo said.
He said the attackers imitated the recent “terror acts” in Paris and were likely from the Islamic State group, but gave no evidence.
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The Indonesian capital Jakarta experienced a mass “Paris-like” attack with explosions and shootings being carried out across the city, police have said, with at least seven people reported dead so far. In 2002, bombings in Bali killed 202 people.
