Explosion in Jakarta leaves at least 1 dead

[Jonathan Fairfield]

ISIL claim responsibility for deadly Jakarta gun and bomb attacks

JAKARTA:-- A series of gun and bomb attacks has caused terror in the centre of the Indonesian capital Jakarta, leaving several people dead – including a number of the attackers themselves.

The authorities say the situation has now been brought under control. In mid-afternoon local time Indonesia’s security chief said five militants had been killed, including one foreigner.

ISIL has claimed responsibility for the attack via an associated news agency, saying it was “targeting foreign nationals and security forces.” The group had previously threatened to put the country “in the spotlight.”

The number of victims is difficult to confirm.

There were at least six explosions. Amid reports that some attackers were still at large, security forces surrounded a building where terrorists were said to have been holed up.

At midday police said they had shot dead three terrorists and captured four. As well as three suspected suicide bombers, they added that three policemen and three civilians were also killed.

The Netherlands has said a Dutch man was seriously hurt.

The attacks happened in an area of the capital that’s home to several western organisations and hotels. One of the blasts was close to the United Nations headquarters; there was another explosion outside a Starbucks cafe, whose windows were blown out.

Starbucks says one customer was injured but that its staff are safe. The chain has closed its Jakarta stores until further notice.

Indonesia has had some success in countering radical groups – police claim to have foiled a New Year plot – but the country’s brand of moderate, secular Islam makes it a target for fanatics bent on exterminating their opponents.

Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo has condemned the attacks and appealed for calm.

Indonesia is the world’s most populous Muslim country although public life is largely secular. Nevertheless, scores of Indonesians are known to have travelled to Iraq and Syria to join ISIL.

Earlier, the head of the Indonesian national intelligence agency told Reuters there was no evidence so far to link ISIL to the attacks.

The country has seen a spate of militant attacks in the 2000s, the deadliest at a nightclub on the holiday island of Bali that killed 202 people.

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

At least one of Thursday’s attacks was captured on video.

-- (c) Copyright Euronews 2016-01-14

[Jonathan Fairfield]

Source tells IS-affiliated agency IS responsible

The Aamaq news agency, which is affiliated with the Islamic State group, is quoting an unnamed source as saying the group carried out the attack in Jakarta.

The news agency has been used as a source for the IS militants in the past. However, according to SITE, which tracks militant websites, the Islamic Group has not yet issued a communique claiming responsibility for the attack.

The report in Arabic said that a source told Aamaq that "fighters from the Islamic State carried out this morning an armed attack that targeted foreigners and the security forces tasked with protecting them in the Indonesian capital, Jakarta."

— Zeina Karam, Beirut

Indonesia's national police spokesman says the people who attacked a busy shopping area in downtown Jakarta were copying the recent Paris attacks and were probably connected to the Islamic State group.

Gen. Anton Charliyan said: "They imitated the terror actions in Paris ... they are likely from the (Islamic State) group."

He 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.

Five of the attackers and two other people were killed Thursday near the Sarinah shopping mall.

-- (c) Associated Press 2015-01-14

[Wilsonandson]

I like this article, it sums up the reason why there is turmoil, death, destruction, hatred and never ending suffering.

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/jan/13/obama-wars-iraq-afghanistan-syria-foreign-policy-peace-failure

Edited January 14, 2016 by Wilsonandson

[Yann55]

crazy muslims radicals again ... kill em all.

'Kill em all' is exactly what crazy Muslim radicals say, Steven. So what does that make you, and what kind of a planet do you wish to live on ?

Edited January 14, 2016 by Yann55

[webfact]

Islamic State militants claim deadly attack in Jakarta
By NINIEK KARMINI and ALI KOTARUMALOS

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."
___

Associated Press writers Fadlan Syam and Dita Alangkara in Jakarta and Michael Corder in The Hague, Netherlands, contributed.


-- (c) Associated Press 2016-01-15

[otherstuff1957]

Well, all I can say is thank God they were grossly incompetent. Of the 7 dead, 5 were attackers. Instead of attacking a 'soft target' they attacked a police booth!

While we all sympathize with the victims, if the attackers had had triple-digit IQs, it could have been much worse.

[steven100]

crazy muslims radicals again ... kill em all.

'Kill em all' is exactly what crazy Muslim radicals say, Steven. So what does that make you, and what kind of a planet do you wish to live on ?

I wish to live on a planet where there are no crazy muslims ... a safe planet !!!

muslims who just cannot live without killing their own and others. Who only know that killing is why they exist, who are so rapt up in their stupid religion !!

enough said ! PLEASE DON'T TRY TO MAKE EXCUSES FOR THEM !

Edited January 15, 2016 by steven100