Jakarta bombing: Attackers, civilians killed in blasts claimed by Islamic State, police say

Updated

Islamic State (IS) militants have claimed a gun and bomb assault on Indonesia's capital, police say, marking the first assault on the Muslim-majority country by the radical group.

Key points: Several blasts struck central Jakarta shortly before 3:00pm AEDT Thursday

Bombs were thrown at a popular Starbucks cafe, then a suicide bombing at a police checkpoint

Blasts struck outside the Sarinah shopping centre and the UN's country office

Islamic State group has claimed the attack

Five of the seven people killed were the attackers themselves.

It took security forces about three hours to end the siege near a Starbucks cafe and Sarinah's, Jakarta's oldest department store, after a team of about seven militants traded gunfire with police and blew themselves up.

"A group of soldiers of the caliphate in Indonesia targeted a gathering from the crusader alliance that fights the Islamic State in Jakarta through planting several explosive devices that went off as four of the soldiers attacked with light weapons and explosive belts," the group said in a statement.

The IS statement said there were 15 people killed, but the official tally according to the Indonesian Government remains at seven.

An Indonesian police officer and a Canadian man were two other people killed in the attack. Twenty people, including a Dutch man, were wounded.

Authorities said the policeman was killed in a suicide attack on a police booth on the median strip of one of Jakarta's busiest roads, before shots were fired at bystanders.

Deputy National Police Chief Budi Gunawan said two attackers were killed in a shootout with police, while two others were suicide bombers.

Two of the militants were taken alive, police said.

Jakarta's Police Chief Tito Karnavian confirmed the deadly blasts were linked to IS.

The Police Chief named an Indonesian militant called Bahrun Naim as the man responsible for plotting them.

He has been known to police since 2010 and is believed to be vying to become the leader of Islamic State in South-East Asia.

Police believe Naim is in the Syrian city of Raqqa.

At least six explosions rocked the area, including one at a Starbucks cafe in the city centre, near a cluster of embassies and the United Nations offices.

There was also a gunfight between attackers and police in a movie theatre that was in the same building as a Starbucks cafe, a police spokesman said.

Jakarta police said the situation was now under control but in a sign of public unease, a bang caused by a tyre bursting triggered a bomb scare that sent police cars rushing back to the scene hours after the attack.

We will not be defeated by acts of terror: Widodo

Indonesian President Joko Widodo said the blasts were "acts of terror".

"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 MetroTV.

"We all are grieving for the fallen victims of this incident, but we also condemn the act that has disturbed the security and peace and spread terror among our people."

Australia's Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said no Australians had been caught up in the attacks.

She condemned them and said she had spoken to her Indonesian counterpart and offered any support the country may need.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull tweeted his condolences: "Australians' thoughts, prayers and resolute solidarity are with the people of Indonesia as they respond to the terrorist attacks."

US Secretary of State John Kerry added: "There is nothing in any act of terror that offers anything but death and destruction. And so we stand together, all of us, united in our efforts to eliminate those who choose terror."

Harits Abu Ulya, a expert on militancy who knows Naim, said he expected more attacks.

"This is an indication that he has been learning from the Paris attacks and he has studied the strategy," he said.

"I still have doubts about the capability of the local militants to carry out attacks on a bigger scale. But it is a possibility."

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.

The last major militant attacks in Jakarta were in July 2009, with bombs at the JW Marriott and Ritz Carlton hotels.

The country had been on edge for weeks over the threat posed by Islamist militants.

Counter-terrorism police had rounded up about 20 people with suspected links to IS, whose battle lines in Syria and Iraq have included nationals from several Asian countries.

ABC/wires

Topics: disasters-and-accidents, unrest-conflict-and-war, indonesia

First posted