Brazen attacks in Jakarta leave 5 gunmen, 2 others dead

Following the attack, Ottawa updated its travel advisory for Indonesia, warning Canadians that they should exercise a “high degree of caution” there due to a “continuing threat of terrorist attacks” in the country.

A spokeswoman from Global Affairs Canada says the government is working with Indonesian authorities to confirm the identity of the victim in Jakarta. It was unclear if other perpetrators remained at large.

Authorities have been keenly aware of the danger of terrorism since bombings in 2002 on the resort island of Bali killed more than 200 people, over half of them foreign tourists.

“Amateur video, posted on Twitter, appears to have caught one of the explosions outside a coffee shop in the Sarinah area”.

He said: “This act is clearly aimed at disturbing public order and spreading terror among people”.

President Joko Widodo condemned the attack and cut short a trip to west Java to return to the capital.

Jokowi says: “The state, nation and people should not be afraid of, and lose to, such terror acts”.

“The offer follows our recent meeting at the Inaugural Indonesia-Australia Ministerial Council on Law and Security in which we agreed to closer operational and technical counter terrorism cooperation”, Brandis said. They had to secure ingredients to make a bomb and find a vehicle in which to plant the explosives.

Witnesses are reporting three suicide bomb explosions took place at a Starbucks cafe in downtown Jakarta. This led to a 15-minute gunfight in which both attackers were killed, he said.

Police spokesman Anton Charliyan said it’s believed the attackers in Jakarta were targeting foreigners and the police, and are likely affiliated with ISIS.

A Dutch Foreign Ministry spokeswoman in the Netherlands said a Dutch man was seriously injured and was undergoing surgery.

Terrorists laid a four-hour siege to the heart of Indonesia’s capital on Thursday, killing seven and wounding 10 others, officials said, NBC News reported.

The second emergency message stated, “media report that there may be explosions in other parts of city and that the original gunmen may have escaped”. Thamarin Street is home to many luxury hotels, high-rise office buildings and embassies, including the French.

Earlier, tweets from the account of Jeremy Douglas, regional representative of the United Nations office on Drugs and Crime for Southeast Asia and the Pacific, described a bomb and “serious” exchanges of gunfire on the street outside his office. “Didn’t experience this in 3.5 years in Pakistan, ” he wrote.

“A massive #bomb went off in front of our new #Indonesia office as @collie_brown & I exit auto”.

Jakarta’s police chief told reporters: “ISIS is behind this attack definitely”, using a common acronym for Islamic State, and he named an Indonesian militant called Bahrun Naim as the man responsible for plotting it.

“This may have been influenced by Islamic State, but perhaps not organized by it”, said Clive Williams, a former military intelligence officer and visiting professor at the Australian National University’s College of Law.

He said police had received warnings in November from IS they were planning a “concert in Indonesia”, meaning an attack.

The government had deployed 150,000 security personnel to safeguard churches, airports and other public places across the predominantly Muslim nation, and made a series of pre-emptive arrests.