Some Indonesians expressed concern about their safety as the country’s capital awoke to a new day on Friday (January 15) following a deadly attack claimed by Islamic State.
Just seven people were killed in the three-hour siege near a Starbucks cafe and Sarinah, Jakarta’s oldest department store, despite multiple blasts and a gunfight, and five of them were the attackers themselves.
Nevertheless, it was the first time the radical group has targeted the world’s most populous Muslim nation, and the brazenness of the attack suggested a new brand of militancy in a country where low-level strikes on police are common.
Jakarta’s police chief on Friday said police were hunting down the perpetrators, and that other countries needed to get involved.
“The situation already stable, we’re still on top of the terrorist group here in Indonesia, and we suppose that the people in Indonesia remaining calm (about) what happened. We are chasing them and we suppose that our counterparts in other countries also, you know, work together because you know it is not a home-grown terrorism only in Indonesia, this being part of ISIS network,” said Tito Karnavia during a site visit in the morning.
Counter-terrorism police have rounded up about 20 people with suspected links to Islamic State.
A day after the attack, floral tributes were seen near the blast site, as city life started returning to near-normal, although people said they were still worried about security.
“I feel very disturbed by what has happened, it’s impossible for me to feel safe in a situation as such because the information saying that a few bombs went off was not transparent enough, there need to be more clarification. People in the society is very disturbed, we are not feeling safe in situation like this. The government should take extra precaution because by right an event as such could be predicted since it happened before. I’m very disturbed,” said a resident Mukhriz, who goes with one name like many Indonesians.
A witness said the area was in a chaos as police forces exchanged fire with the terrorists.
“I heard people screaming, shouting ‘help, help’. And there was a lot of shooting going on. People were firing shots against each other,” said Muller Purba.
Indonesia has seen attacks by Islamist militants before, but a co-ordinated assault by a team of suicide bombers and gunmen is unprecedented and had echoes of the sieges seen in Mumbai seven years ago and in Paris last November.
The last major militant attacks in Jakarta were in July 2009, with bombs at the JW Marriott and Ritz Carlton hotels. (Reuters)