Jakarta attacks: Seven dead as suicide bombers target capital city (Video)

At least seven people, including five suspected attackers, have died in explosions and shooting attacks in Jakarta.

Attackers detonated explosives and opened fire in central Jakarta on Thursday morning in a strike that left at least seven people dead, according to an Associated Press report.

The first blasts occurred midmorning at a Starbucks store at Sarinah shopping mall, located on Jalan Thamrin, a major thoroughfare through the Indonesian capital. The mall is across an intersection from the U.N.’s main offices in Jakarta, in a crowded commercial district of the capital also occupied by office complexes, high-end hotels and a number of embassies.

On Twitter, Jeremy Douglas, a U.N. regional representative in Jakarta, reported six explosions at around 11 a.m. local time that were followed by a “serious exchange of [gunfire]” between the attackers and security forces. According to witness reports tweeted by an editor at the Indonesian magazine Tempo, two suspects mingled with the crowd of people that gathered at the blast site and then opened fire on police officers. A Tempo photographer also said that one gunman ran in the direction of Jakarta’s National Monument.

Pictures of the scene in central Jakarta, multiple explosions and gunfire reported (pics @kompasTV @niticentral pic.twitter.com/if1wsSNVyo

— Julia Macfarlane (@juliamacfarlane) January 14, 2016

Colonel Muhammad Iqbal, a Jakarta police spokesperson, told the Associated Press on Thursday afternoon that five attackers were among the dead, two of whom were killed by police. Though shooting continued into the afternoon, by 3 p.m. authorities reported that the situation had been contained.

Adam Harvey, a correspondent in Jakarta, cited local police as saying the attacks involved the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS), though no group or individuals claimed responsibility in the hours following the blasts. Police said the attackers imitated the Nov. 13 terrorist attacks in Paris, which left more than 120 people dead.

The latest from office window. No view of scene. Seeing tactical teams going in, pic.twitter.com/abkxHNganC

— Jeremy Douglas (@jdouglasSEA) January 14, 2016

Husain, an employee at nearby bank, told Fairfax Media: “First there was explosion in front of Starbucks at Marinah just before 11. Then people panicked tried to avoid Starbucks, people ran away. Went to nearby police station and saw a bomb in front of the police station.

“We’re terrified, tried to run away shouting ‘bomb, bomb’. This guy suddenly was there and opened fire with pistol. Shot the police man in his stomach. After that shot randomly. Witness tried to save police,” Husain said.

Another witness, Oly, said the gun shots stopped before police entered a fast food restaurant.

“On the streets people just abandoned their vehicles. Just like that and ran,” Oly said.

Hours before the attacks fugitive al-Qaeda’s leader Ayman al Zawahiri posted a message saying south-East Asia “is ripe for a jihadist revival” and urged attacks like the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people, including 88 Australians.

Al Zawahiri primarily focused on an older 24-minute posting on al-Qaeda’s propaganda arm As Sahab on the region, mentioning Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines.

That video opens with an old CNN interview with Bali bomber Amrozi Nurhasyim who said “My message for Australians: don’t come to places like that ever again… I’m sure that my colleagues will bomb it again.” Amrozi was executed over the bombings.

Al Zawahiri’s posting contained footage of other Bali bombers and radical Indonesian cleric Abu Bakar Bashir. The US has a US$25 million reward for the capture of Egyptian born al-Zawahiri.

The attacks come after another video was posted on the internet claiming that four extremist Islamic groups in the southern Philippines had merged, creating a new potent threat to the region.Leaders of the groups have pledged allegiance to Islamic State.

Agencies/Canadajournal