Indonesia Arrests ISIL Suspects After Jakarta Attacks

When Islamic State militants used handguns and grenades to carry out a deadly attack in Jakarta on Thursday, a top Indonesian police official immediately compared it to the brutal assaults in Paris late past year that killed 130 people.

The audacious attacks by suicide bombers and gunmen Thursday that hit a Starbucks and a traffic police post in bustling central Jakarta killed eight people, including three civilians.

In a statement, the police chief said the suspect confessed to planning a suicide attack in Malaysia after receiving orders from a foreign IS member in Syria. It said its “soldiers” targeted Westerners from countries fighting the terrorist group in Iraq and Syria.

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. “We think there were five (attackers), but they must have had some support”, said Police Chief Badrodin Haiti.

Security forces have been largely successful in stamping out homegrown militancy, but last week’s attack confirms concerns about a resurgence inspired by IS.

At least 20 people were wounded when at least five attackers opened fire near a Starbucks coffee house in the city. The identification was made possible by an eyewitness named Aldi, who claimed the suicide bomber had tried to grab him before detonating the bomb.

The five terrorists that were killed have been identified, M. Iqbal, a spokesman for the Jakarta police, said at the media briefing.

So far, 12 arrests have been made and police have also shut down at least 11 websites and social media accounts.

Returning to the area outside Jakarta’s oldest department store, Sarinah, where Thursday’s attack unfolded, Indonesian President Joko Widodo briefly toured the area and spoke with workers.

The civilian victims were Canadian Amer Quali Tahar and Jakarta residents Rico Hermawan and Rais Karna, who died Saturday.

The style of the attack, and the people who appear to be behind it, suggest that remnants of the networks responsible for the notorious 2002 Bali bombings and other assaults are trying to regroup under the banner of the Islamic State group.

(AP Photo). Police officers take cover behind a vehicle during a gun battle with attackers near the site where an explosion went off in Jakarta, Indonesia Thursday, Jan. 14, 2016. Unchallenged by police, they stalked their victims in the area near the cafe, said Ronny Gunawan, 38, who watched from a nearby office tower.

The national intelligence agency chief said there was no indication that Islamic State militants had carried out the attack.

“The sound was incredibly loud and I could feel the tremors”.

Indonesia suffered several large bomb attacks by Islamic radicals between 2000 and 2009, but a subsequent security crackdown weakened extremist networks, and there had been no major attacks since 2009.

“Surely, there were [more] people behind the attack”.