IS issued cryptic warning ahead of Jakarta attacks

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. “We always fight anything that wanna take us down”. He said the other two attackers, carrying handguns, entered a police post from where he heard gunfire.

It’s not clear if any more attackers are at large outside the Sarinah area.

Police warned people to stay away, saying they did not know how many attackers there were and feared there could be more blasts.

“I was riding a motorbike when suddenly the explosion went off at the police post”, eyewitness Eliaz Warre told The Associated Press.

“Chaos & we’re going into lock-down”, he said on Twitter.

Starbucks said all of its stores in Jakarta would remain closed until further notice.

“There is a strong suspicion that this is an ISIS-linked group in Indonesia”, national police spokesman Anton Charliyan told AFP, referring to IS by an alternative name.

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

Witnesses have said that the initial explosion was followed by at least five more blasts which left the ground and building shaking.

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

Witnesses said at least one gunman had attacked a cafe in the city center – near a cluster of embassies – shooting at bystanders, as a series of explosions rocked the area.

However, he was surprised that police had not detected it previously, given the apparent high level of organization, but added that forces all over the world are being “caught off guard and surprised by low-level, small-scale attacks”.

There is no word on what happened to them, but after the explosion several other police and medical personnel in white overalls were seen running to the cafe.

There were also reports of a stand off at a local theatre.

While suspicion is likely to fall on Islamic State or its allies, police said they did not know who was responsible and President Joko Widodo urged the public not to speculate on who was behind the attack.

An unknown number of people were injured following the attack at Sarinah shopping complex on Thamrin street in the centre of Jakarta. “We are aware of media reports that a Canadian may have been among the victims”.

Chief security minister Luhut Pandjaitan said it was “too early” to talk about IS involvement.

Jokowi says he was cutting short his visit and retuning to the capital.

Reuters says the gun battle took place in a movie theater in the same building as the Starbucks.

Other blasts were reportedly heard in the Cikini, Silpi and Kuningan neighbourhoods, near the Pakistan and Turkish embassies.

As well as the suicide bombers, four explosive devices were detonated during the attacks – one in Starbucks, after the suicide bombing, and during a shootout between police and the assailants. Media said a police post outside the mall was blown up.

– December 24, 2000: Bombs explode at 11 churches across the country on Christmas Eve, killing 19 people and injuring around 100.

Yesterday’s deadly attacks were focused on a Starbucks in the centre of the Indonesian capital, in an area filled with offices and Western brands.