Alwaght- Six bombs rocked the centre of the Indonesian capital on Thursday as Militants launched a gun assault killing at least six people.
At least three suicide bombers exploded themselves in a Starbucks cafe in downtown Jakarta while two gunmen attacked a police post nearby, a witness told The Associated Press.
The official Twitter account of the Jakarta police said that the explosions went off in front of a shopping center known as Sarinah mall. Police say attackers arrived on motorcycles and threw grenades, ABC’s Indonesia correspondent Adam Harvey reported.
"The Starbucks cafe windows are blown out. I see three dead people on the road. There has been a lull in the shooting but someone is on the roof of the building and police are aiming their guns at him," Reuters reported.
Indonesia has been on edge in recent weeks over the threat posed by ISIS terrorists and counter-terrorism police have launched a crackdown on people with suspected links to the terrorist group.
"We have previously received a threat from ISIS that Indonesia will be the spotlight," police spokesman Anton Charliyan told reporters. But he said police did not know who was resposible.
Gunshots were heard after the midmorning explosion in front of the Sarinah shopping mall and a police station. The area also has many luxury hotels, and offices and embassies, including the French. The other set of explosions were in neighbourhoods where the embassies of Turkey and Pakistan are located.
Indonesia has been a victim of several bombing attacks in the past, claimed by ISIS terrorist groups.
The country saw a spate of terrorist attacks in the 2000s, the deadliest of which was a nightclub bombing on the holiday island of Bali that killed 202 people, most of them tourists.
Police have been largely successful in destroying domestic terrorist cells since then, but officials have more recently been worrying about a resurgence inspired by groups such as ISIS and Indonesians who return after fighting with the group.
