Behind Islamic State attack on Indonesia, homegrown jihadi intellectual

This is the first attack launched by the Islamic State in Indonesia, and the worst such terror incident in the country since 2009, when Islamist suicide bombers targeted two ritzy hotels in Jakarta, killing seven.

At least seven people, including five attackers, were killed in the explosions and gun battle between police and the attackers in the central business district of the city.

Yesterday, he was identified by police as the mastermind behind the deadly attack on Jakarta claimed by Islamic State, pulling the strings from Raqqa, the radical group’s de facto capital in Syria. But in 2014, the man regarded as the spiritual godfather of the militant Jemaah Islamiyah group in Indonesia, Abu Bakar Bashir, who is serving a long prison sentence, declared allegiance to the freshly announced “caliphate” of Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.

The police chief in the Depok area – Col, Dwiyono – told Indonesian TV that they were arrested at dawn Friday at their homes on the outskirts of Jakarta, according to The Associated Press.

Police said they had arrested four suspects in connection with the attack.

At about the same time, two other suicide bombers attacked a nearby traffic police booth, killing themselves and an Indonesian man. Two civilians, including a Canadian, and a police officer were also killed while another 20 were wounded.

ISIS later claimed responsibility for the attack.

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.

“I have spoken to Indonesian Foreign Minister [Retno LP] Marsudi and offered any support that Indonesia may need to respond to these attacks”, Bishop said.

In a brazen midday assault, a team of well-armed militants detonated explosives and opened fire Thursday in the heart of the Indonesian capital of Jakarta. Those attacks in November killed 130 people. It differed from Indonesian police on the number of attackers, saying there were four.

The attack came after several warnings in recent weeks from police that Islamic militants were planning something big.

The president urged Indonesians not to speculate over who was behind the attacks that have killed at least six people.

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.

“There has been a lull in the shooting but someone is on the roof of the building and police are aiming their guns at him”, said a Reuters photographer.

“A Dutch national has been severely injured and is now undergoing surgery at a hospital in Jakarta”, Angele Samura, the security adviser for the Netherlands Embassy in Jakarta, told CNN.

George Brandis, Australia’s Attorney-General, said last month that the so-called Islamic State had “ambitions to elevate its presence and level of activity in Indonesia”, either directly or through affiliates. The area also has many luxury hotels, and offices and embassies, including the French.