Dead In Multiple Blasts In Indonesian Capital Jakarta, Gun Battle Rages On

Several explosions went off and gunfire broke out in the center of the Indonesian capital on Thursday and police said they suspected a suicide bomber was responsible for at least one the blasts.At least seven people have reportedly been killed after several explosions erupted in central Jakarta, Indonesia. Another 19 people were injured.

The Jakarta Post reports that police were also seen entering the McDonald’s restaurant at the Sarinah building, with gunshots still ringing out in the area.

At present, no group has claimed responsibility for the attack.

Soldiers from the major services of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and members of the Philippine National Police (PNP) walk on EDSA, Feb. 25, 2015.

However, the head of Indonesia’s national intelligence agency, Sutiyoso, said talk of Islamic State was premature.

The news agency has been used as a source on the IS militants in the past. Police blame Acehnese separatists, who deny involvement.

A witness named Husaini told reporters at the scene the first explosion came from inside the Starbucks.

An Indonesian tried to help but was shot dead, he said.

Meanwhile, the Netherlands’ foreign minister says that a Dutch man has been seriously wounded in the Jakarta attack.

Indonesian authorities have said five attackers and two others, including the man who is thought to be a Canadian, died in Thursday’s attack which involved explosions at a Starbucks cafe close to the Sarinah shopping mall. Just as in Paris, the terrorists attacked several targets nearly at the same time.

On Tuesday, a Syrian suicide bomber killed 10 German tourists in Istanbul.

Both the police and the military denied that ISIS has already established in Mindanao, even as they downplayed threats of terror attack in the country.

“The driver got a call that something happened at the building”, he said by telephone.

Gen. Anton Charliyan said the group collaborated with Indonesia militants who had fought for IS in Syria.

Smoke billows from an explosion.

Jakarta police spokesman Colonel Muhammad Iqbal said officers recovered the bodies of the attackers, but it was not clear if more remained at large.

He said the two gunmen ran away with police chasing them.

Last month, anti-terror police arrested nine suspected militants and said they had planned attacks “to attract global news coverage of their existence here”.

“The state, nation and people should not be afraid of, and lose to, such terror acts”, he said.

Indonesian police said that the perpetrators of a foiled bomb plot late previous year were “influenced by ISIS”.

Police snipers were deployed among hundreds of other security officers, some in armored vehicles.

More than 9,000 police were also deployed in Bali.

After the explosions at Starbucks, sporadic gunfire could be heard for about two hours. “Then the police post… exploded”.

A United Nations regional representative in Jakarta, Jeremy Douglas, tweeted that an explosion in front of the UN office in the capital was followed by at six other blasts and gunfire. “Didn’t experience this in 3.5 years in Pakistan, ” he wrote.