In a Paris style attack, six lives were claimed and 10 injured in Indonesia, where a series of bomb blasts and shootouts rattled its capital city Jakarta on Thursday evening. The first two blasts were reported from a Starbucks Coffee outlet near Serinah departmental store in Central Indonesia and two suicide bombers blew themselves up close to a police station soon after, while two others were shot down by the police officers in a gun battle that followed.
EPA
“Based on the results of the overall identification, there are 16 victims in the incident,” Deputy Police Chief Commissioner General Budi Gunawan said while he visited the location. Two foreigners are among the seven killed during the attack.
There was lot of commotion, a lot of craziness. We heard a large bang. We thought it was thunder because the storms here are pretty big,” Robs Phillips, an English teacher who lives in the area told the BBC.
Heavy exchanges of gunfire took place between the police and the terrorists in Djakarta Theater, where the terrorists had fled after the blasts inside Starbucks Coffee. The police finally declared the situation under control after hours of confrontation with the militants. Five militants were killed in the entire incident on Thursday, including the two who blew up themselves.
The Islamic State claimed the responsibility for the terror attack soon after it was executed on the grounds of Jakarta, calling it an attack against the citizens of the “Crusader coalition” which is against their group.
The Thursday’s attack was condemned by President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) who said he had ordered the National Police chief and the coordinating minister for political, legal and security affairs minister to chase down and arrest the suspects, both those on the scene and other members of the networks. The Head of the State condemned the attack too, stating that terror attacks would never be able to incite a sense of fear or defeat among Indonesians and has appealed to the public to remain calm.
EPA
In a statement issued, Starbucks Coffee condemned the Jakarta terror strike. “We are deeply saddened by the senseless act that has taken place in Jakarta; our hearts are with the people of Indonesia,” Starbucks Coffee said in a statement. While this particular store will remain shut, the other stores in Jakarta and across Indonesia will open tomorrow.
In the aftermath of the tragic attack, buildings and shops along the Thamrin Boulevard were cordened off and helicopters were conducting aerial monitoring of the situation.
(With inputs from Antara News)
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