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| Jakarta Attack Kills at Least 2, Indonesian Officials Say | Jakarta Attack Kills at Least 2, Indonesian Officials Say |
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| JAKARTA, Indonesia — Explosions and gunfire rocked the center of the Indonesian capital on Thursday in an attack that raised the specter of an expanding Islamic State presence in Southeast Asia. At least two civilians were killed, senior officials said, along with five assailants. Four attackers were in custody, the police said. | |
| Gen. Anton Charliyan, a spokesman for the Indonesian National Police, said that the assailants had used grenades and guns and that at least one had been on a motorcycle. He said the police had received information in late November about a warning from the Islamic State militant group that “there will be a concert” in Indonesia, meaning an attack. | Gen. Anton Charliyan, a spokesman for the Indonesian National Police, said that the assailants had used grenades and guns and that at least one had been on a motorcycle. He said the police had received information in late November about a warning from the Islamic State militant group that “there will be a concert” in Indonesia, meaning an attack. |
| Several hours after the attack, a news service closely associated with the Islamic State reported that the militant group had taken responsibility for it, according to the SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors radical Islamic propaganda. | |
| In an Arabic post on its Twitter channel, the news service, al-Amaq, cited an unnamed source saying: “Fighters from the Islamic State carried out this morning an armed attack that targeted foreign nationals and security forces tasked with protecting them in the Indonesian capital, Jakarta.” | In an Arabic post on its Twitter channel, the news service, al-Amaq, cited an unnamed source saying: “Fighters from the Islamic State carried out this morning an armed attack that targeted foreign nationals and security forces tasked with protecting them in the Indonesian capital, Jakarta.” |
| Gen. Tito Karnavian, chief of the Jakarta Provincial Police and the former head of the country’s elite national police counterterrorism unit, said at a news conference at the Presidential Palace that the perpetrators of the attack were linked to leaders of the Islamic State in Raqqa, Syria. | |
| General Karnavian identified the ringleader of the group that carried out the attack as an Indonesian, Bahrun Naim, who he said was currently in Syria and who had been sentenced to prison in West Java Province in Indonesia in 2012 for illegal possession of firearms and explosives. | General Karnavian identified the ringleader of the group that carried out the attack as an Indonesian, Bahrun Naim, who he said was currently in Syria and who had been sentenced to prison in West Java Province in Indonesia in 2012 for illegal possession of firearms and explosives. |
| Mr. Bahrun is a leader of Katibah Nusantara, a Southeast Asian-based military unit under the Islamic State, according to General Karnavian, who said that the Islamic State was expanding its operations in regional countries including Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand. | Mr. Bahrun is a leader of Katibah Nusantara, a Southeast Asian-based military unit under the Islamic State, according to General Karnavian, who said that the Islamic State was expanding its operations in regional countries including Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand. |
| Between Dec. 18 and 20, nine terrorism suspects in Indonesia were arrested across Java Island, where Jakarta is located. Shortly after New Year’s, a small bomb exploded near the home of the governor of West Java Province, in the city of Bandung. Three people were later arrrested in connection with that explosion, and between Jan. 8 and 12, four other suspects were taken into custody. | |
| One of the two civilians killed in the attack on Thursday was Canadian, and the other was Indonesian, President Joko Widodo’s cabinet secretary, Pramono Anung, said at a news conference with the head of the Indonesian armed forces, Gen. Gatot Nurmantyo, hours after the violence. Both of the dead were civilians, they said. | |
| The police department’s public relations division said in a post on its official Facebook page that 23 people had been treated for injuries, including five members of the police, four foreigners and 14 other civilians. | |
| The attack initially appeared to target a traffic police post at a major intersection, which was heavily damaged by explosions. Video showed a series of blasts in a parking lot across the street from the police post, just yards from the front doors of a Starbucks coffee shop and a Burger King restaurant. Video aired on local television appeared to show two of the attackers blowing themselves up near the Starbucks. | The attack initially appeared to target a traffic police post at a major intersection, which was heavily damaged by explosions. Video showed a series of blasts in a parking lot across the street from the police post, just yards from the front doors of a Starbucks coffee shop and a Burger King restaurant. Video aired on local television appeared to show two of the attackers blowing themselves up near the Starbucks. |
| At least one assailant fired at the police post. Numerous police vehicles and ambulances were on the scene of the attack, which occurred on Jalan Thamrin, one of Jakarta’s main thoroughfares. The area is normally one of the busiest in the city, but photos circulating on social media after the attack began showed the wide boulevards nearly empty of cars. The United States Embassy in Jakarta issued an emergency message telling Americans to avoid the area. | At least one assailant fired at the police post. Numerous police vehicles and ambulances were on the scene of the attack, which occurred on Jalan Thamrin, one of Jakarta’s main thoroughfares. The area is normally one of the busiest in the city, but photos circulating on social media after the attack began showed the wide boulevards nearly empty of cars. The United States Embassy in Jakarta issued an emergency message telling Americans to avoid the area. |
| Jeremy Douglas, a United Nations official based in Bangkok, said he heard explosions as his car was pulling into the building housing his agency’s Jakarta offices. | Jeremy Douglas, a United Nations official based in Bangkok, said he heard explosions as his car was pulling into the building housing his agency’s Jakarta offices. |
| “The driver got a call that something happened at the building,” he said by telephone. “I got out of the car, and an explosion went off behind the building. I could feel it.” | “The driver got a call that something happened at the building,” he said by telephone. “I got out of the car, and an explosion went off behind the building. I could feel it.” |
| Mr. Douglas, the regional representative for Southeast Asia and the Pacific for the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, said he sought refuge in the offices and heard more explosions from there, as well as gunfire. “It sounds very close,” he said. He added that he had heard a total of five explosions. | Mr. Douglas, the regional representative for Southeast Asia and the Pacific for the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, said he sought refuge in the offices and heard more explosions from there, as well as gunfire. “It sounds very close,” he said. He added that he had heard a total of five explosions. |
| A Dutch man was wounded in the attack and was being treated at a hospital, a spokesman for the Dutch Embassy in Jakarta said. “There is a Dutch victim, but we don’t know his status,” the spokesman, Nico Schermers, of the Netherlands Embassy in Jakarta, said by telephone. | A Dutch man was wounded in the attack and was being treated at a hospital, a spokesman for the Dutch Embassy in Jakarta said. “There is a Dutch victim, but we don’t know his status,” the spokesman, Nico Schermers, of the Netherlands Embassy in Jakarta, said by telephone. |
| Mr. Schermers, who declined to identify the man, said that bystanders and people who knew the man had informed the embassy that he had been wounded. He added that the embassy was in the process of contacting his family. | Mr. Schermers, who declined to identify the man, said that bystanders and people who knew the man had informed the embassy that he had been wounded. He added that the embassy was in the process of contacting his family. |
| The attack was the first major one in Jakarta since the twin bombings of two hotels in 2009. | The attack was the first major one in Jakarta since the twin bombings of two hotels in 2009. |
| Indonesia is the world’s most populous majority-Muslim country, but it has a secular government and influential Christian, Hindu and Buddhist minorities. Though it is far from the conflicts of the Middle East, the country has experienced several terrorist attacks by Islamist militants that have killed hundreds, including bombings on the resort island of Bali in 2002 and 2005, and at international hotels in Jakarta in 2003 as well as 2009. | Indonesia is the world’s most populous majority-Muslim country, but it has a secular government and influential Christian, Hindu and Buddhist minorities. Though it is far from the conflicts of the Middle East, the country has experienced several terrorist attacks by Islamist militants that have killed hundreds, including bombings on the resort island of Bali in 2002 and 2005, and at international hotels in Jakarta in 2003 as well as 2009. |
| Splinter cells of Jemaah Islamiyah, the now crushed Southeast Asian terrorist group that was linked to Al Qaeda, have targeted the police in recent years. | Splinter cells of Jemaah Islamiyah, the now crushed Southeast Asian terrorist group that was linked to Al Qaeda, have targeted the police in recent years. |
| President Joko called the assaults “acts of terror” in a televised statement Thursday. “Our nation and our people should not be afraid,” Mr. Joko said. “We will not be defeated by these acts of terror. I hope the public stays calm.” | President Joko called the assaults “acts of terror” in a televised statement Thursday. “Our nation and our people should not be afraid,” Mr. Joko said. “We will not be defeated by these acts of terror. I hope the public stays calm.” |
| “We all are grieving for the fallen victims of this incident, but we also condemn the act that has disturbed the security and peace and spread terror among our people,” he said. | “We all are grieving for the fallen victims of this incident, but we also condemn the act that has disturbed the security and peace and spread terror among our people,” he said. |
| Mr. Joko later visited the scene of the attacks. | Mr. Joko later visited the scene of the attacks. |
| Yohanes Sulaiman, an Indonesian political analyst, said Indonesia’s government had not done enough to contain Islamist radicals in recent years. He said the police had “done a good job in preventing such attacks, considering that Indonesia is kind of a messy place. What the government hasn’t been doing is to stop the radicalism.” | Yohanes Sulaiman, an Indonesian political analyst, said Indonesia’s government had not done enough to contain Islamist radicals in recent years. He said the police had “done a good job in preventing such attacks, considering that Indonesia is kind of a messy place. What the government hasn’t been doing is to stop the radicalism.” |
| As of last year, at least 300 Indonesians had joined the thousands of foreign fighters who have traveled to Syria to help extremist groups trying to create an Islamic state there, according to Sidney Jones, director of the Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict, a research institute based in Jakarta. | As of last year, at least 300 Indonesians had joined the thousands of foreign fighters who have traveled to Syria to help extremist groups trying to create an Islamic state there, according to Sidney Jones, director of the Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict, a research institute based in Jakarta. |
| Indonesian extremists are known to have trained and fought in Afghanistan in the 1980s and ’90s, in the southern Philippines and possibly in Bosnia. The involvement of Indonesian fighters in Syria became more prominent after an extremist from Borneo named Riza Fardi was killed there last year, the institute said. | Indonesian extremists are known to have trained and fought in Afghanistan in the 1980s and ’90s, in the southern Philippines and possibly in Bosnia. The involvement of Indonesian fighters in Syria became more prominent after an extremist from Borneo named Riza Fardi was killed there last year, the institute said. |
| Ken Conboy, who works for an Indonesian security company and wrote a book about Jemaah Islamiyah, speculated that the attacks were connected to recent arrests of terrorism suspects on Java, the Indonesian island that includes Jakarta. | Ken Conboy, who works for an Indonesian security company and wrote a book about Jemaah Islamiyah, speculated that the attacks were connected to recent arrests of terrorism suspects on Java, the Indonesian island that includes Jakarta. |
| “All the people arrested in recent weeks were all linked to each other. The arrests kept on snowballing,” Mr. Conboy said. “They were supposedly planning attacks on police stations, Shiite Muslim communities and maybe the national Police Headquarters” in Jakarta. | “All the people arrested in recent weeks were all linked to each other. The arrests kept on snowballing,” Mr. Conboy said. “They were supposedly planning attacks on police stations, Shiite Muslim communities and maybe the national Police Headquarters” in Jakarta. |
| Rohan Gunaratna, an expert on Asian terrorist networks at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore, said he had interviewed several detainees in police custody in Indonesia in late December after the police disrupted two cells that had been planning attacks. | Rohan Gunaratna, an expert on Asian terrorist networks at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore, said he had interviewed several detainees in police custody in Indonesia in late December after the police disrupted two cells that had been planning attacks. |
| He said the detainees said they had been planning assaults on the police in Jakarta and wanted to “create chaos.” | He said the detainees said they had been planning assaults on the police in Jakarta and wanted to “create chaos.” |
| Among the detainees were Indonesian nationals and several Uighurs, an ethnic Turkic group from the northwestern Xinjiang region of China, Mr. Gunaratna said. | Among the detainees were Indonesian nationals and several Uighurs, an ethnic Turkic group from the northwestern Xinjiang region of China, Mr. Gunaratna said. |
| Jalan Thamrin, where the attack occurred Thursday, is the main thoroughfare through central Jakarta, and the attack took place just yards from Plaza Sarinah, the city’s oldest modern shopping mall. The mall is one of the few landmarks President Obama recognized as his motorcade rolled through Jakarta during his 2010 state visit to the capital, where he lived as a child. | Jalan Thamrin, where the attack occurred Thursday, is the main thoroughfare through central Jakarta, and the attack took place just yards from Plaza Sarinah, the city’s oldest modern shopping mall. The mall is one of the few landmarks President Obama recognized as his motorcade rolled through Jakarta during his 2010 state visit to the capital, where he lived as a child. |
| Numerous high-rise buildings, including offices occupied by the United Nations, lie within yards of the police post that was the apparent target of the attack, as well as several four- and five-star hotels and Tanah Abang, Southeast Asia’s largest traditional textiles market. The United States Embassy is a little over half a mile from the attack site, which is also near Indonesia’s National Monument and the presidential palace complex. | Numerous high-rise buildings, including offices occupied by the United Nations, lie within yards of the police post that was the apparent target of the attack, as well as several four- and five-star hotels and Tanah Abang, Southeast Asia’s largest traditional textiles market. The United States Embassy is a little over half a mile from the attack site, which is also near Indonesia’s National Monument and the presidential palace complex. |