Three arrested in hunt for Jakarta attackers

Four of the five men killed in suicide and gun assaults on January 14 had been identified, and a subsequent search of one of their homes found IS-related evidence, including the group’s flag, National police spokesman Anton Charliyan said.

Supporters of the Islamic State group circulated a claim of responsibility on Twitter late Thursday.

Andreas Aditya, who works near the scene of Thursday’s incident, believes the attack was more about the location than Starbucks being a prominent Western business.

However, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it was unaware of the reported plan and military actions should be in accordance with the United Nations Charter and UN Security Council resolutions, according to Russian media. Abu Bakar Bashir, who leads a South-East Asian Islamist group called Jemaah Islamiyah, has pledged allegiance to IS, and around 2,000 people have joined rallies in support of IS.

Reuters news agency, citing an unidentified police source, said the Canadian and an Indonesian police officer were killed in the attack.

He said he was not injured in the explosions as he was a little distance away, but close enough to witness the attack at 10.30 am (11.30 am Hong Kong time).

Terror analysts warn that the group, believed to include fighters predominantly from Indonesia but also Malaysia and elsewhere in the region, has threatened for more than a year to bring the jihad home. Indonesian network TVOne said at least three explosions occurred in the Cikni, Silpi and Kuningan neighbourhoods, near the Pakistani and Turkish embassies.

The message said attackers carried out the assault in Jakarta and had planted several bombs with timers.

In a recent blog post, entitled “Lessons from the Paris Attacks”, Naim had urged his Indonesian audience to study the planning, targeting, timing, coordination, security and courage of the jihadis in the French capital.

Indonesian TV reported Friday that police arrested three men on suspicion of links to Thursday’s attack in Jakarta, NBC News reported.

Indonesians are visiting the site of Thursday’s attack, leaving flowers and messages calling for prayers and national unity.

They paid tribute to the swift response and courage of the Indonesian security forces in responding to this attack, it said.

Authorities in Kalimantan said at least one arrest was conducted by the specialist Densus 88 counter-terrorism unit in East Kalimantan which seized bullets, fertiliser and gunpowder.

Just seven people were killed in the three-hour siege near a busy shopping despite multiple blasts and a gunfight, and five of them were the attackers themselves.

The country saw a spate of militant attacks in the 2000s, the deadliest of which was a nightclub bombing on Bali that killed 202 people, a lot of them tourists.

“It seems the police have seen the connecting thread, but I think I can’t or I’m not able to say more”, he told reporters on Friday.

Conflicting information emerged in the aftermath of the attacks, with some officials putting the number of dead as high as six.

The US Embassy in Indonesia will remain closed for the remainder of Friday one day after a series of explosions hit the island republic’s capital, the US Embassy said, while the Russian diplomatic mission will remain open.

While the bomb and gunfire attacks in Jakarta were continuing a picture emerged of a gunman on the streets.