Jakarta identifies 5 militants, others held

Indonesian policemen remove floral tributes from the damaged police outpost opposite Starbucks coffee shop in central Jakarta on Saturday. — AFP

The Indonesian police on Saturday named the five men they suspect launched Thursday’s gun and bomb attack in Jakarta, which was claimed by ISIS, and said they had arrested 12 people linked to the plot who planned to strike other cities.

As investigators pieced together clues from the radical group’s first attack on Indonesia, neighbouring Malaysia said it had arrested a man in Kuala Lumpur who had confessed to planning a suicide attack in the country.

“We... have carried out acts of force. We have done searches, we have made arrests and we have obtained evidence connected with the terrorist bombing at Sarinah,” Jakarta police spokesperson Mohammad Iqbal told a press conference.

“We will not say how many people or what sort of evidence we have as it will upset our strategy. Be patient, when the case is closed and things are clear we will disclose them.”

Seven people, including the militants, were killed in the attack near the Sarinah department store in the Indonesian capital’s commercial district. Thirty people were hurt.

Another attacker, who opened fire with a gun outside the cafe, was named as Afif. A national counter-terrorism agency spokesperson said Afif had served seven years in prison, where he refused to cooperate with a de-radicalisation programme.

Police spokesperson Anton Charliyan said the Jakarta five and the 12 others who were arrested had plans to attack cities elsewhere in Indonesia, including Bandung, which lies some 120 km southeast of the capital.

In Malaysia, the country’s police chief said a suspected militant who was arrested in a metro station in Kuala Lumpur on Friday had confessed to planning a suicide attack.

Earlier, Indonesia said it had shut down at least 11 radical websites and several social media accounts that expressed support for the Jakarta attack.