JAKARTA ATTACKS: ISIL CLAIMS RESPONSIBILITY

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group has claimed responsibility for the coordinated bomb and gun attacks in the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, a news agency linked to ISIL reported on Thursday.At least seven people, including five attackers, were killed in the explosions and gun battle between police and the attackers in the central business district of the city.

Tito Karnavian, the Jakarta police chief, said ISIL was “definitely” behind the attack.

Karnavian told Reuters news agency that Indonesian ISIL fighter Bahrun Naim, who is believed to be in Syria, was “planning this for a while. He is behind this attack.”

Earlier, police told news men that ISIL had made specific threats before Thursday’s attacks.

Six blasts occurred about 50 metres apart in the central business district, which also houses a United Nations office.

At least 20 people were injured in the security operations at the Sarinah shopping complex on Thamrin Street. Police said the attack had ended and that security forces were in control of the area.

There were conflicting reports on the number of casualties as the police battled the fighters.

Earlier, tweets from the account of Jeremy Douglas, regional representative of the UN office on Drugs and Crime for Southeast Asia and the Pacific, described a bomb and “serious” exchanges of gunfire on the street outside his office.

reports said a police post was destroyed in a grenade blast and that sporadic gunfire was heard in the downtown area of the capital.

The attacks caused panic and prompted a security lockdown and enhanced checks in several areas in the city of 10 million.