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| People, including unarmed police officers, flee from the scene after a gun battle broke out following an explosion in Jakarta, Indonesia Thursday, Jan. 14, 2016. Attackers set off bombs and exchanged gunfire outside a Starbucks cafe in Indonesia's capital in a brazen assault Thursday that police said "imitated" the recent Paris attacks. |
JAKARTA,
Indonesia (AP) -- The scene had echoes of the Paris attacks: A
bustling shopping area shaken by the blasts of suicide bombers and
gunfire as onlookers fled in terror.
But when
Thursday's assault in central Jakarta was over, the death toll was far
lower. Of the seven killed, five were the attackers themselves and only
two were civilians - a Canadian and an Indonesian. Another 20 people
were wounded.
Still, authorities and analysts
believe the violence that left the city of 10 million on edge for hours
was a loud announcement of the Islamic State group's presence in the
world's largest Muslim-majority nation.
Supporters
of the Islamic State group circulated a claim of responsibility on
social media resembling the militants' previous messages.
The
attackers carried handguns, grenades and homemade bombs and struck a
Starbucks cafe and a traffic police booth in the Indonesian capital's
highest-profile attack in six years.
Authorities said they found a large, undetonated bomb and five smaller devices in a building near the cafe.
"So
we think ... their plan was to attack people and follow it up with a
larger explosion when more people gathered," said Maj. Gen. Anton
Charliyan, the spokesman of Indonesia's national police. "But thank God
it didn't happen."
Jakarta police chief Maj.
Gen. Tito Karnavian said the attackers had links with IS and were part
of a group led by Bahrum Naim, an Indonesian militant who is now in
Syria.
"We have identified all attackers,"
Charliyan said. "We can say that the attackers were affiliated with the
ISIS group," he added, using an acronym for the Islamic State group.
The
claim was shared on Twitter late Thursday, and the U.S.-based SITE
Intelligence Group said it also was circulated among pro-IS groups on
other media.
The message said attackers
carried out the Jakarta assault and had planted several bombs with
timers. It differed from Indonesian police on the number of attackers,
saying there were four. It said they wore suicide belts and carried
light weaponry.
The statement could not be
independently verified by The Associated Press, though it resembled
previous claims made by the group, which controls territory in both Iraq
and Syria.
Jakarta is no stranger to
terrorism, with the 2009 bombings of two hotels that killed seven people
and injured more than 50. The bloodiest attack by Islamic extremists in
Indonesia - and in all of Asia - was in 2002, when a nightclub bombing
on the resort island of Bali killed 202 people, mostly foreigners.
Those
and others were blamed on the al-Qaida-inspired Jemaah Islamiyah.
Following a crackdown by security forces, militant strikes in recent
years have been smaller and less deadly, and have targeted government
authorities, mainly police and anti-terrorism forces. Terrorism experts
say IS supporters in Indonesia are drawn from the remnants of Jemaah
Islamiyah.
Charliyan said police had received
information in late November about a warning from the Islamic State
group that "there will be a concert" in Indonesia, meaning an attack.
Last month, anti-terror police arrested nine suspected militants and
said they had planned attacks "to attract international news coverage of
their existence here."
Indonesian authorities
deployed 150,000 security personnel, made arrests and said they foiled a
plot to kill government officials, law enforcement officers and others.
The heightened security ended Jan. 6.
Southeast
Asian terrorism expert Sidney Jones wrote in November that Bahrum Naim
has been urging his Indonesian audience to study the Paris attacks.
"While
the police and army have been focused on going after Indonesia's most
wanted terrorist, Santoso, in the hills of Central Sulawesi, ISIS has
succeeded in building a network of supporters in the suburbs of
Jakarta," Jones wrote.
Taufik Andri, a
terrorist analyst, said although the attack ended swiftly and badly for
the attackers, their aim was to show their presence and ability.
"Their
main aim was just to give impression that ISIS' supporters here are
able to do what was done in Paris. It was just a Paris-inspired attack
without being well prepared," he told The Associated Press. Those
attacks in November killed 130 people.
Thursday's
first suicide bomb went off about 10:50 a.m. at the Starbucks, which is
near to some U.N. offices, a shopping center and other Western
restaurants, including McDonald's, Pizza Hut and Burger King.
The
neighborhood is home to many luxury hotels, high-rise buildings and
diplomatic offices, including the French Embassy.
Karnavian
told reporters that after customers ran out of the cafe, two gunmen
outside opened fire, killing the Canadian and wounding an Indonesian.
At
about the same time, two other suicide bombers struck a traffic police
post nearby, killing an Indonesian man. Minutes later, a group of police
were attacked by the remaining two gunmen, using homemade bombs,
Karnavian said. This led to an exchange of fire that lasted 15 minutes
and ended with both attackers dead.
Guruh
Purwanto heard the initial explosion as he met with co-workers at an
agricultural company next to the shopping center. He rushed out and saw
white smoke billowing from the Starbucks and people running in panic.
"I was shocked when I saw two men with handguns shoot a foreigner," Purwanto said. "He tried to hide behind a car."
He heard another blast and saw three bodies on the street near a wrecked traffic police booth, with more white smoke.
The two gunmen ran into a movie theater but were eventually cornered by police in the Starbucks parking lot, Purwanto said.
"There
was gunfire between police officers and the two attackers, like in a
movie ... and suddenly the two blew themselves up," he said. "It was
scary."
A Dutch man who was seriously wounded underwent surgery, according to Foreign Ministry spokeswoman in the Netherlands.
The
man, who was not identified, is an expert in forestry and ecosystems
management for the U.N. Environment Program and is "fighting for his
life," said UNEP chief Achim Steiner.
About five hours after the first explosions, police announced the area was secure.
"This
act is clearly aimed at disturbing public order and spreading terror
among people," said President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo, who visited the
attack site. "The state, the nation and the people should not be afraid
of, and be defeated by, such terror acts."
In
condemning the violence during a visit to London, U.S. Secretary of
State John Kerry said "these acts of terror are not going to intimidate
nation-states from protecting their citizens and continuing to provide
real opportunity, education, jobs, possibilities of a future."
The attack prompted a security lockdown in central Jakarta and enhanced checks all over the city.
By
evening, a large screen atop the building that houses the Starbucks
displayed messages that said "#prayforjakarta" and "Indonesia Unite."
Some people left flowers near the stricken traffic police post, along
with a wreath that read "Deep condolences. We are not afraid."
