JAKARTA - Indonesian police killed one militant during a raid on Friday (Jan 15) and detained three suspects for interrogation in connection with the brazen attack in downtown Jakarta that left seven people dead, including five attackers.
The three Indonesian suspects being held for interrogation are alleged to be from a terror cell linked to Indonesian Bahrun Naim, a fighter with the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) who is believed to be in the Syrian city of Raqqa. Police believed he had planned the Jakarta attack on Thursday.
Police spokesman Muhammad Iqbal told reporters that the militant was slain in a raid in Poso, Central Sulawesi province. It was conducted by crack commandos from the Detachment 88 counter-terrorism unit at about 5am. The three suspects were detained in a separate raid in Depok, about 1.5 hour's drive from central Jakarta.
The police also confirmed at a press conference on Friday that the five militants in Thursday's attack were linked to ISIS. Two of them were possibly former convicts of terrorism.
The number of those injured in the attack is now 26, according to the police. They include four foreigners and six police officers. The rest are Indonesians.
Meanwhile, security at Indonesian ports, airports as well as places frequented by foreigners, such as embassies and places with foreign investments, have been stepped up.
In Thursday's attack, the five militants laid siege to a Starbucks cafe located at a busy junction in central Jakarta, killing two bystanders, including a Canadian man. Four of the attackers blew themselves up in what appeared to be a coordinated suicide bomb attack just before lunch hour. The fifth attacker was gunned down by police at close range.
The incident, which unfolded in the heart of Indonesia's capital where the popular Sarinah mall is located, is the first terror attack on Indonesian soil since the 2009 twin bombings at the JW Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels in the city that left seven dead and 50 injured, including a number of foreigners.
This is also the first major terror incident since President Joko Widodo took office, and comes after capitals across South-east Asia moved into high alert at the end of last year following a similar attack in Paris that was also traced back to ISIS.
For more stories on the Jakarta attacks, please go here
