ISIS targets Indonesia for first time, claims attack on Jakarta

Five attackers blow up Starbucks, execute a Canadian tourist, kill a local

ISIS-linked suicide attackers struck the capital of Muslim-majority In-donesia on Thursday, executing a Canadian and blowing up a Sta-rbucks, the police said. Five extremists launched the attacks as they detonated explosives and shot at people in a district packed with malls, embassies and United Nations offices.

The assault also left an Indonesian man dead and 20 other people injured, and a pol-ice post destroyed, in what the country’s Pre-sident called “acts of terror”.

“Their network has links to ISIS in Raqqa,” said Jakarta poli-ce chief Tito Karnavian, referring to ISIS stronghold in Syria.

ISIS claimed responsibility for deadly shootings and suicide bombings, in a statement posted online. The statement said the attacks targeted a gathering of citizens from the “Crusader coalition”, referring to the US-led alliance of countries combatting ISIS in Iraq and Syria.

National police spokesman Anton Charliyan said ISIS issued a cryptic warning before the attacks. “The warning said there will be a concert in Indonesia and it will be international news,” he told a local radio station.

The police said the five-strong cell who struck on Thursday included three suicide bombers who initially targeted a Starbucks near a major shopping mall. After the first explosion, men armed with pistols took two men hostage.

One of them managed to escape with bullet wounds, but the second man, a Canadian, was shot dead on the spot, while an Indone-sian man who had tried to help the hostages was also shot and killed.

“Soon afterwards, two men riding.... motorbikes, ran into a police post and blew themselves up,” Mr Charliyan said. “From what we see today, this group is following the pattern of the Paris attacks.” Witnesses sa-id the gunman who emerged from Starbucks began firing at bystanders, reloading his weapon as security forces moved in behind the cover of moving vehicles.

President Joko Widodo urged people to re-main calm. “Our nation and our people should not be afraid, we will not be defeated by these acts of terror,” he said.

The top diplomats of Saudi Arabia and the US, who are meeting in London amid tensions between the kingdom and Iran, have condemned the attack.