Suicide bombing terror back in Southeast Asia – Islamic State claims responsibility
Two suicide bombers blew themselves up in a Starbucks cafe in downtown Jakarta on January 14 while gunmen attacked a police post nearby, next to busy shopping center Sarinah Thamrin Plaza.
While it was first not clear who was to blame for the attacks, later in the day, Islamic State, or ISIS, claimed responsibility for the attack.
“Islamic State fighters carried out an armed attack this morning targeting foreign nationals and the security forces charged with protecting them in the Indonesian capital,” Aamaaq news agency which is related to the militant group, said on its Telegram channel, according to a Reuters report.
Eight people. among them one Canadian, and four attackers died and 20 were injured after the militants carried out the series of apparently coordinated gun and bomb attacks in the heart of the Indonesian capital. Among the seriously injured is a Dutch UN employee who has been heavily wounded.
The first explosion apparently triggered a gun battle between the attackers and anti-terror police squads, and gunfire could be heard more than 90 minutes later. In the afternoon local time, police said that there were a total of seven attackers involved of which one was a foreigner.
Islamic militant groups have carried out several attacks in the past across Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim nation.
Starbucks announced it will be closing all its stores in Jakarta until further notice
The Indonesian national intelligence agency first said that “this is definitely terrorism, but there are no indications yet that it’s ISIS-related.”
However, analysts likened the timed attacks to the Paris massacre where ISIS struck several locations at the same time. Indonesia’s deputy police chief Budi Gunawan later told reporters police believe that a group based in Solo, a city in central Java, was behind the attacks. The group is known to have supported ISIS and had been in contact with them in Syria for some time.
Indonesian President Joko Widodo described the Jakarta attacks as “acts of terror,” strongly condemned the violence and urged the public to “stay calm.”
Meanwhile, security has been stepped up in Singapore, while police has been deployed in front of the Indonesian embassy in Bangkok. Malaysia raised its security alert to the highest level following the Jakarta blasts.
Sydney’s iconic Opera House was cordoned off after a security scare sparked by “information on social media” with people cleared from the harbour front precinct before police declared it safe.
The Philippines, in turn, is threatened by an apparent formation of a satellite of Islamic State in southern Muslim Mindanao, according to recent reports.
Two suicide bombers blew themselves up in a Starbucks cafe in downtown Jakarta on January 14 while gunmen attacked a police post nearby, next to busy shopping center Sarinah Thamrin Plaza. While it was first not clear who was to blame for the attacks, later in the day, Islamic State, or ISIS, claimed responsibility for the attack. "Islamic State fighters carried out an armed attack this morning targeting foreign nationals and the security forces charged with protecting them in the Indonesian capital," Aamaaq news agency which is related to the militant group, said on its Telegram channel, according to a...
Two suicide bombers blew themselves up in a Starbucks cafe in downtown Jakarta on January 14 while gunmen attacked a police post nearby, next to busy shopping center Sarinah Thamrin Plaza.
While it was first not clear who was to blame for the attacks, later in the day, Islamic State, or ISIS, claimed responsibility for the attack.
“Islamic State fighters carried out an armed attack this morning targeting foreign nationals and the security forces charged with protecting them in the Indonesian capital,” Aamaaq news agency which is related to the militant group, said on its Telegram channel, according to a Reuters report.
Eight people. among them one Canadian, and four attackers died and 20 were injured after the militants carried out the series of apparently coordinated gun and bomb attacks in the heart of the Indonesian capital. Among the seriously injured is a Dutch UN employee who has been heavily wounded.
The first explosion apparently triggered a gun battle between the attackers and anti-terror police squads, and gunfire could be heard more than 90 minutes later. In the afternoon local time, police said that there were a total of seven attackers involved of which one was a foreigner.
Islamic militant groups have carried out several attacks in the past across Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim nation.
Starbucks announced it will be closing all its stores in Jakarta until further notice
The Indonesian national intelligence agency first said that “this is definitely terrorism, but there are no indications yet that it’s ISIS-related.”
However, analysts likened the timed attacks to the Paris massacre where ISIS struck several locations at the same time. Indonesia’s deputy police chief Budi Gunawan later told reporters police believe that a group based in Solo, a city in central Java, was behind the attacks. The group is known to have supported ISIS and had been in contact with them in Syria for some time.
Indonesian President Joko Widodo described the Jakarta attacks as “acts of terror,” strongly condemned the violence and urged the public to “stay calm.”
Meanwhile, security has been stepped up in Singapore, while police has been deployed in front of the Indonesian embassy in Bangkok. Malaysia raised its security alert to the highest level following the Jakarta blasts.
Sydney’s iconic Opera House was cordoned off after a security scare sparked by “information on social media” with people cleared from the harbour front precinct before police declared it safe.
The Philippines, in turn, is threatened by an apparent formation of a satellite of Islamic State in southern Muslim Mindanao, according to recent reports.
