Jakarta Bombings: Multiple Fatalities after Indonesian Capital Hit by 'Suicide Attacks'
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Up to seven blasts and multiple gunfights hit the Indonesian capital Jakarta on Thursday, including one outside the United Nations building in the center of the capital, leaving at least seventeen people dead.
Images from one of the city’s busiest precincts showed a small police booth in the middle of one of Jakarta’s main roads, twisted by an explosion with three bodies lying in the street. Another shot showed smoke rising in front of a Starbucks cafe.
Jakarta police spokesman Colonel Muhammad Iqbal said seventeen people including five attackers were killed, adding that the gun battle took place in a cinema housed in the same building as the Starbucks. “We will declare the situation secure soon,” he said. Five policemen and seven civilians were among the dead, the Guardian reported.
The local Metro TV said 14 gunmen were involved in the attack, which started around 10.30am local time (2.30am GMT).
There were reports that as many as six attackers remained inside. With an active fight ensuing, it was unclear if subsequent blasts originated from the attackers or police.
A UN regional representative, Jeremy Douglas, said he was getting out of his car by the UN office when a “massive bomb” detonated.
“Chaos & we’re going into lock-down,” he said on Twitter. “Apparent suicide bomber literally 100m from the office and my hotel. Now gunfire,” he added, saying that he heard six explosions and an ensuing gunfight between police and the attackers.
No group immediately claimed the attack. Helicopters circled above and armoured vehicles entered the area, an upscale neighbourhood where there are luxury hotels and embassies that was cordoned off by the police.
“We have previously received a threat from ISIL that Indonesia will be the spotlight,” police spokesman Anton Charliyan told journalists. But he added that police did not yet know who was responsible.
Indonesian president Joko Widodo said in a statement on national TV that the situation was under control and called on people to remain calm. “The state, nation and people should not be afraid of, and lose to, such terror acts,” he said.
It is estimated that 500 to 700 Indonesians have joined the Daesh (ISIL) terrorist group in Iraq and Syria and the government has expressed concern their return home could spark attacks. Separatist groups also operate in the country.
Indonesia suffered its deadliest attack in 2002, when 202 people were killed in three bomb attacks in the tourist hotspot Bali.
Major bomb attacks by extremist groups followed until 2009 when a crackdown weakened their operations. The emergence of ISIL has raised concerns that the networks will be reinforced.
As the world’s most populous Muslim-majority country, Indonesian religious and civil society organisations have stepped up campaigns to fight the spread of violent extremism.
Neighbouring Malaysia and the Philippines have also focused resources on battling ISIL, which hopes to spread its influence through partnering with domestic militias abroad.