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Police arrest 3 men on suspicion of links to Jakarta attack Police arrest 3 men on suspicion of links to Jakarta attack
(about 2 hours later)
JAKARTA, Indonesia — Indonesians were shaken but refusing to be cowed a day after a deadly attack in a busy district of central Jakarta that has been claimed by the Islamic State group. JAKARTA, Indonesia — Indonesian police on Friday arrested three men on suspicion of links to the brazen attacks in the heart of the country’s capital, and said they recovered a flag of the Islamic State group from the home of one of the attackers.
In a new development, police on Friday told an Indonesian TV channel they arrested three men on suspicion of links to the attack that killed seven people including five attackers. The discovery of the flag bolsters authorities’ claim that the attack Thursday was carried out by the Islamic State group, which controls territory in Syria and Iraq and whose ambition to create an Islamic caliphate has attracted 30,000 foreign fighters from around the world, including a few hundred Indonesians and Malaysians.
The area near a Starbucks coffee shop where the attack by suicide bombers and gunmen began remained cordoned off with a highly visible police presence Friday. The arrests of the three took place at dawn at their homes in Depok on the outskirts of Jakarta, police said in a text message, citing Col. Khrisna Murti, director of criminal investigations who led the raid. It said they were arrested for suspected links to the attackers. MetroTV. It broadcast footage of the handcuffed men being escorted by police.
Onlookers and journalists lingered nearby, with some people leaving flowers and messages of support. Five men attacked a Starbucks cafe and a traffic police booth with hand-made bombs, guns and suicide belts Thursday, killing two people — a Canadian and an Indonesian — and injuring 20. The attackers were killed subsequently, either by their suicide vests or by police.
National police spokesman Maj. Gen. Anton Charliyan told reporters a black IS flag was found in the home of one of the attackers and police believe they have established their identities.
He says two of the five men were previously convicted and imprisoned for terrorism offenses.
The IS link, if proved, poses a grave challenge to Indonesian security forces because until now the group was known only to have sympathizers with no active cells capable of planning and carrying out such an attack.
In recent years Indonesian anti-terror forces had successfully stamped out another extremist group known as Jemaah Islamiyah. It was responsible for several attacks in Indonesia, including the 2002 bombings of bars in Bali, which left 202 people dead, as well as two hotel bombings in Jakarta in 2009 that killed seven people.
Terrorism experts say IS supporters in Indonesia are drawn from the remnants of Jemaah Islamiyah.
A few hundred Indonesians are known to have traveled to Syria to join the IS. Few have come back. Still, police believe that an Indonesian IS fighter, Bahrum Naim, who is in Syria may have inspired and instigated the Jakarta attack.
Jakarta residents were shaken by Thursday’s events but refused to be cowed.
The area near the Starbucks cafe remained cordoned off with a highly visible police presence. Onlookers and journalists lingered, with some people leaving flowers and messages of support.
A large screen atop the building that houses the Starbucks displayed messages that said “#prayforjakarta” and “Indonesia Unite.”A large screen atop the building that houses the Starbucks displayed messages that said “#prayforjakarta” and “Indonesia Unite.”
Newspapers carried bold front-page headlines declaring the country was united in condemnation of the attack, which was the first in Indonesia since 2009. Newspapers carried bold front-page headlines declaring the country was united in condemnation of the attack, which was the first in Indonesia, the world’s largest Muslim-majority nation, since the hotel bombings in 2009.
Depok area police chief Col. Dwiyono told MetroTV that the three men were arrested at dawn at their homes in Depok on the outskirts of Jakarta. Risti Amelia, an accountant at a company near the Starbucks said she was “still shaking and weak” when she returned to her office Friday. But because staff remained emotional, the company decided to send workers home, she said.
Dwiyono, who goes by one name, says the men are suspected militants and are being questioned over possible links to the attack Thursday. Supporters of the Islamic State group circulated a claim of responsibility for the attack on Twitter late Thursday.
MetroTV broadcast footage of the handcuffed men being escorted by police. The message said attackers carried out the Jakarta assault and had planted several bombs with timers. It differed from Indonesian police on the number of attackers, saying there were four.
Risti Amelia, an accountant at a company near the Starbucks restaurant said she was “still shaking and weak” when she returned to her office Friday. Because staff remained emotional, the company decided to send workers home, she said. The statement could not be independently verified by The Associated Press, though it resembled previous claims made by the group.
Two civilians were killed in the attack that began Thursday morning, an Indonesian and a Canadian. Another 20 people were wounded. Taufik Andri, a terrorist analyst, said although the attack ended swiftly and badly for the attackers, their aim was to show their presence and ability.
Jakarta police chief Maj. Gen. Tito Karnavian has said the attackers had links with IS and were part of a group led by Bahrum Naim, an Indonesian militant who is now in Syria. “Their main aim was just to give impression that ISIS’ supporters here are able to do what was done in Paris. It was just a Paris-inspired attack without being well prepared,” he told The Associated Press. Those attacks in November killed 130 people.
A message shared on Twitter late Thursday claimed the attack was the work of IS, and the U.S.-based SITE Intelligence Group said it was circulated among pro-IS groups on other media.
The message said attackers carried out the Jakarta assault and had planted several bombs with timers. It differed from Indonesian police on the number of attackers, saying there were four. It said they wore suicide belts and carried light weaponry.
The statement could not be independently verified by The Associated Press, though it resembled previous claims made by the group, which controls territory in both Iraq and Syria.
Jakarta is no stranger to terrorism, with the 2009 bombings of two hotels that killed seven people and injured more than 50. The bloodiest attack by Islamic extremists in Indonesia — and in all of Asia — was in 2002, when a nightclub bombing on the resort island of Bali killed 202 people, mostly foreigners.
Those and others were blamed on the al-Qaida-inspired Jemaah Islamiyah. Following a crackdown by security forces, militant strikes in recent years have been smaller and less deadly, and have targeted government authorities, mainly police and anti-terrorism forces. Terrorism experts say IS supporters in Indonesia are drawn from the remnants of Jemaah Islamiyah.
Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.