Media reported that three people suspected of plotting an attack were arrested before dawn in Depok, just south of Jakarta, on Friday (January 15).
Metro TV said there was no indication that the men – which it described as a bomb-maker, a firearms expert and a preacher – were linked to Thursday’s (January 14) attack.
“The informant told us that the people (who are arrested) were told to follow and to be devoted. (The investigation) Is still undergoing, we cannot give any details and the investigation is ongoing,” said Dwiyono, Senior Commissioner for Depok city police station.
Seven people were killed in the violence, including an Indonesian and a man of dual Canadian-Algerian nationality. The five others who died were suspected attackers.
Twenty-four people were seriously wounded, including an Austrian, a German and a Dutchman.
Experts agree that there is a growing threat from radicalised Muslims inspired by Islamic State, some of whom may have fought with the group in Syria. However, they said the low death toll on Thursday pointed to the involvement of poorly trained local militants whose weapons were crude.
Police have confirmed that Islamic State was responsible and named an Indonesian militant, Bahrun Naim, as the mastermind.
Police believe Naim leads a militant network known as Katibah Nusantara and is pulling strings from Raqqa, Islamic State’s de facto capital in Syria.
Islamist militants from those three countries have a record of working together and several Malaysians are known to have carried out suicide attacks in the Middle East.
Indonesia has seen attacks by Islamist militants before, but a coordinated assault by a team of suicide bombers and gunmen is unprecedented and has echoes of the sieges seen in Mumbai seven years ago and in Paris last November. (Reuters)