Blasts, gunfight in Indonesian capital; at least 6 dead

Militants launched a gun and bomb assault killing
at least six people in the center of the Indonesian
capital on Thursday, police said, in an attack that
followed a threat by Islamic State fighters to put
the country in their "spotlight."
Media said six bombs went off and a Reuters
witness saw three dead people and a gunfight
going on. One blast was in a Starbucks cafe and
security forces were later seen entering the
building.
Police said they suspected a suicide bomber was
responsible for at least one of the blasts and up
to 14 militant gunmen were involved in the attack,
Metro TV 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," said a
Reuters photographer.
Indonesia has been on edge in recent weeks over
the threat posed by Islamist militants and
counter-terrorism police have launched a
crackdown on people with suspected links to
Islamic State.

"We have previously received a threat from
Islamic State that Indonesia will be the
spotlight," police spokesman Anton
Charliyan told reporters. But he said police
did not know who was resposible.
He said three policemen and three civilians had
been killed.
"I saw a police officer shot right in front of
me," one witness told TV One.
One explosion went off in front of a shopping
center called the Sarinah mall, on a main avenue.
Media said a police post outside the mall was
blown up.
Police snipers were deployed among hundreds of
other security officers.
A U.N. building near the scene was in lock-down
with no one allowed in or out, a witness said.
Some other high-rise buildings in the area were
evacuated.
Indonesia's central bank is located in the same
area, and a spokesman for the bank said a policy
meeting was going ahead and a decision on
interest rates would be announced as planned
later in the day.
An explosion was heard in the western suburb of
Palmerah, according to a domestic media tweet,
but police said they could not confirm a blast
there.
Indonesia has the world's largest Muslim
population, the vast majority of whom practice a
moderate form of the religion.
The country saw a spate of militant 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 militant cells since then, but officials
have more recently been worrying about a
resurgence inspired by groups such as Islamic
State and Indonesians who return after fighting
with the group.
The last major militant attacks in Jakarta were in
July 2009, with bombs at the JW Marriott and
Ritz Carlton hotels.