Jakarta attacks copy Paris
Canadian among dead, three men arrested after hours of chaos in downtown core
A Canadian national was killed in the attacks in Jakarta on Thursday, according to a statement from the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Reuters, citing an unidentified police source, said the Canadian and an Indonesian police officer were killed in the attack, which saw assailants set off explosions close to the Sarinah shopping mall and wage gun battles.
Police told an Indonesian TV channel that they have arrested three men on suspicion of links to the attack.
Depok area police Chief Col. Dwiyono told MetroTV that the men were arrested at dawn at their homes in Depok on the outskirts of Jakarta.
Dwiyono, who goes by one name, says the men are suspected militants and are being questioned over possible links to the attack Thursday that killed seven.
MetroTV broadcast footage of the handcuffed men being escorted by police.
Local police said the incident “imitated” the recent Paris attacks and was probably linked to the Islamic State group. A message resembling previous Islamic State communications circulated on Thursday claiming credit for the incident, although the Star could not verify it as legitimate.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau de- clined to confirm that one of the victims was a Canadian but said that Global Affairs Canada was working with Indonesian authorities.
“Our hearts — of Canada and Canadians — go out to the people of Indonesia and the families and victims of these terrible attacks and we of course will be supporting the Indonesian government in anything it needs from Canada through this difficult time,” Trudeau said, during a visit Thursday to Waterloo.
Global Affairs Canada told the Star it was aware of media reports naming a Canadian as being among the victims.
“The Government of Canada, in collaboration with Indonesian authorities, is investigating and attempting to confirm the identity of the victim,” the department said in an email.
It said it was not releasing more details in order to protect the identity of the person concerned.
The federal government has also updated its travel advisory for Jakarta, advising Canadians to remain vigilant, follow the advice of local authorities and avoid the downtown area at the centre of the attack.
Adam Harvey, the Indonesia correspondent for Australia’s ABC News, tweeted photos of a bombed-out police booth in Jakarta and a cache of weapons allegedly recovered from the attackers.
Jeremy Douglas, a Canadian who is the representative for the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime in Southeast Asia and the Pacific, tweeted just before 1 a.m. Toronto time that “a massive bomb” had gone off in front of his building.
“Chaos & we’re going into lockdown,” he wrote. “Apparent #suicidebomber literally 100m from the office and my hotel. Now gunfire,” Douglas added.
Andini Effendi, a journalist with Metro TV News in Jakarta, told the Star by telephone Thursday that the violence began when a Molotov cocktail was thrown at Starbucks.
The attacks took place in “the heart of the city” near the French, Japanese and U.S. embassy buildings, she said. “It’s considered as a very critical location for security,” she said.
It was the first major attack in Indonesia’s capital since the 2009 bombings of two hotels that killed seven people and injured more than 50. Before that, bombings at nightclubs on the resort island of Bali in 2002 killed 202 people, mostly foreigners.
Thursday’s attack prompted a security lockdown in central Jakarta and enhanced checks all over the crowded city of 10 million.
“It was like a regular weekday morning. Everyone was on their way to work and it was packed . . . By the look of it, it seems like they (were) attacking the police officers,” said Effendi, who was not at the scene when the attack took place but later interviewed a witness.
That witness works in an office across the street from where the attacks took place, Effendi said, and he said the building shook and he first thought it was an earthquake.
“It was kind of like a movie scene in Jakarta. People thought, ‘Is this real? Is this really happening?’ ” Effendi said.