Indonesia Makes Arrests Over Deadly Attack In Jakarta

Two civilians, one an Indonesian and the other a Canadian, were killed along with five attackers.

Investigators will now be looking at the nature of the linkages between the attackers and Islamic State, said Judith Jacob, a terrorism researcher working on a Ph.D on the evolution of worldwide jihadism in Indonesia.

“What we need today is to strengthen our capability and also sharing information with others because it is not homegrown in Indonesia, but is being part of global networks”, he said.

Within half an hour since the first incident, the police have managed to control the situation and at 3:00 pm the situation in the area of the terror attacks has returned to normal.

He did not elaborate on the army’s role but AFP reporters saw a convoy of a half-dozen military trucks filled with heavily armed troops in central Jakarta.

Some embassies in Jakarta have been closed for the day, and security has been stepped-up on the resort island of Bali.

Gen Haiti, the national police chief, said Sunakim and one other attacker had both been convicted criminals.

The attacks spilled out in dramatic fashion on a bustling street at mid-morning, transfixing Indonesia’s hyperactive social-media world, as images and videos of the carnage went viral.

Police have singled out Indonesian extremist Bahrum Naim as being behind the planning.

Police confirmed that Islamic State was responsible and named an Indonesian militant, Bahrun Naim, as the mastermind. Gen. Anton Charliyan, the spokesman of Indonesia’s national police.

“Surely, there were [more] people behind the attack”. “The threat of returning Southeast Asian fighters radicalized in the Iraq/Syria region [is] also another factor of concern, together with the possibility of self-radicalized lone wolves appearing in the scene”.

Indonesian police have said the attack followed the pattern of the Paris attacks in November that left 130 people dead.

A USA counterterrorism official told VOA there was no reason to doubt Islamic State’s claim of responsibility for the attacks.

The attackers included three suicide bombers who initially targeted a Starbucks near a major shopping mall.

MetroTV broadcast footage of the handcuffed men being escorted by police.

Three men were taken into custody in dawn raids on a house at Depok, West Java, however it has been reported this may have been an unrelated police operation.

Indonesia, which has the world’s biggest Muslim population, has been a victim of several bombings in the past that have been claimed by Islamic militant groups.

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.

“We have known his [Naim’s] group for some time and we are pursuing them”, he added.

That raises the plausible conjecture that the terror attacks this week in Jakarta by an IS-connected group may have been orchestrated as a form of retaliation against the Indonesian government for its embarrassing snub against the Saudis last month. The terrorists then proceeded to Starbucks and the police post to carry out their attacks. Chaos & we’re going into lock-down. Speaking in London, US Secretary of State John Kerry condemned Thursday’s attack.

Austin, who has headed CENTCOM since March 2013 and will shortly be stepping down, said the IS group is upping its overseas actions to distract from such losses.

He said some priests in hinterland parishes have expressed apprehension that Islamist terror groups have already infiltrated some communities.