Terrorists carried out a series of bomb blasts and gun assaults in the heart of the Indonesian capital of Jakarta on Thursday, killing seven people, including four militants, police said, according to The Associated Press.
The explosions took place near the Sarinah shopping mall in central Jakarta Tuesday morning. News outlets reported the first explosion at 10:50 a.m. at a Starbucks café, followed by six more blasts within a span of 10 minutes. One of the targets of the bomb attack was a police station, according to eyewitnesses.
Police believe the coordinated terrorist attack was carried out by as many as 14 militants and that a suicide bomber might have been involved in the bomb attacks in the Indonesian capital, according to Reuters.
"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 reporter working for the publication.
Police have cordoned off the area and are still engaged in a gunfight with the terrorists, who are making use of grenades in what the nation's president, Joko "Jokowi" Widodo, has called an "act of terror," according to CNN.
No one has come forward to claim responsibility for the terrorist attacks but police suspect that the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) might be behind the assault after they received threats from the terrorist group, Al Jazeera reported.
Videos circulating on social media documented the deadly attacks on camera.
Video ledakan di parkiran starbucks Sarinah #BreakingNews #ledakansarinah pic.twitter.com/Q6nbIS2bTl
— Robert Harianto (@robetbet) January 14, 2016
Apparently this is the second suicide bomber's detonation. #jakarta #BomSarinah pic.twitter.com/bohND6RV1r — CJ Werleman (@cjwerleman) January 14, 2016
Shooting in #jakarta pic.twitter.com/DoTs7YbAro
— Datuk Jahat Hensem (@datukhensem) January 14, 2016
