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| Jakarta Attacks Leave at Least 4 Dead, Police Say | |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| JAKARTA, Indonesia — The Indonesian capital was rocked by a series of explosions and gunfire in the city center on Thursday, in what the police called a terrorist attack. The police said that at least four people had been killed, and it was feared that the toll would rise. | |
| The attack initially appeared to target a traffic police post at a major intersection, which was heavily damaged by bomb blasts, and at least one police officer was killed by gunfire from an assailant, according to witnesses who spoke to a local television station, TV One. | |
| Gen. Anton Charliyan, a spokesman for the Indonesian National Police, said the attack involved an unknown number of assailants with grenades and guns, at least one of whom was on a motorcycle. He said no suicide bombers were involved. Three civilians and a police officer were killed, he said. | |
| General Anton 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. | |
| Video showed a series of explosions in a parking lot across the street from the police post beginning at 10:40 a.m. local time, just yards from the front doors of a Starbucks coffee shop and a Burger King restaurant. | |
| The attack then appeared to broaden, with at least one assailant firing 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, and yards away from the popular Plaza Sarinah shopping mall. 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, saying that the “situation continues to unfold.” | |
| It was the first major attack in Jakarta since the twin bombings of two hotels in 2009. | |
| 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 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 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. | 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. |
| 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 and 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 and 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. | |
| Last year, it was reported that at least 50 Indonesians had joined the thousands of foreign fighters who have traveled to Syria to help extremist groups trying to create an Islamic state there. | Last year, it was reported that at least 50 Indonesians had joined the thousands of foreign fighters who have traveled to Syria to help extremist groups trying to create an Islamic state there. |
| 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, according to the Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict 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, according to the Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict in Jakarta. |