UN Security Council condemns terror attacks in Jakarta, Indonesia

Foreign ambassadors also joined the event.

One man held up a placard that said “After a dark night, there will be a bright sunlight in the morning, don’t be afraid God is with us”. Many held flowers and placed them near the spot where a bomb exploded.

“These terrorist attacks can occur anywhere and anytime, that’s why we are continuing to ensure that our law enforcement security and intelligence have the resources and the support that they need to keep Australians safe”, Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said.

Security forces battled militants for hours on Thursday in a major business and shopping district of Jakarta.

“As a precaution, the US Embassy will be closed on Friday, January 15, for regular visa appointments and normal American citizen services”, the US mission said in a security message for its citizens.

Jakarta police spokesman Col Muhammad Iqbal said seven people, including four attackers, have been killed in the attacks.

Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim nation, has suffered a spate of deadly attacks blamed on the Jemaah Islamiyah network in the past.

Indonesia’s Metro TV described the three men arrested on Friday as a bomb-maker, a firearms expert and a preacher.

Gen. Tito Karnavian, chief of the Jakarta Provincial Police and former head of the country’s elite national police counterterrorism unit, said at a news conference on Thursday that the perpetrators were linked to leaders of Islamic State in Raqqa, Syria.

He says the operations were funded through Bahrun Naim, an Indonesian who was arrested in 2011 and spent one year in jail for illegal possession of weapons before going to Syria to fight alongside the group. Two civilians were killed and dozens injured, including foreigners.

Haiti identified one of the five suspects as Sunakim.

Just seven people were killed in Jakarta despite multiple blasts and a gunfight, and five of them were the attackers themselves, but the brazenness of the assault suggested a new brand of militancy in a country where low-level strikes on police are common.

Jeremy Douglas, who works in the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime in the area, said the location suggests if the terrorists “wanted to make an impact and get visibility… this is the place to do it”. He did not release any names. Those attacks in November killed 130 people.

The arrests of the three took place at dawn at their homes in Depok on the outskirts of Jakarta, police said in a text message, citing Col. Khrisna Murti, director of criminal investigations who led the raid.

Ms Bishop said on Friday Australia had been “deeply concerned” for some time about the possibility of an attack in the region, as IS militants reach out beyond the Middle East.

He says police and broadcasting announcements for people to stay away from windows.