Indonesia blamed Islamic State for an attack by suicide bombers and gunmen in the heart of Jakarta on Thursday that brought the radical group's violence to the world's most populous Muslim country for the first time.
Seven people were killed in multiple blasts and a gunfight, and five of them were the attackers themselves, but the brazenness of their siege suggested a new brand of militancy in a country where low-level strikes on the police are common.
It took security forces about three hours to end the attack near a Starbucks cafe and Sarinah's, Jakarta's oldest department store, after a team of at least seven militants traded gunfire with the police and blew themselves up.
An Indonesian and a Canadian were killed in the attack and 20 people, including a Dutchman who works for the United Nations Environment Programme, were wounded. Two of the militants were taken alive, police said.
Jakarta's police chief said: "IS is behind this attack definitely," using a common acronym for Islamic State, and he named an Indonesian militant called Bahrun Naim as the man responsible for plotting it.
Police believe Naim is in the Syrian city of Raqqa. The drama played out on the streets and on television screens, with at least six explosions and a gunfight in a movie theatre. But the low death toll pointed to the involvement of local militants whose weapons were rudimentary, experts said.
Police responded in force within minutes of the attack. Black armoured cars screeched to a halt in front of the Starbucks and sniper teams were deployed around the neighbourhood as helicopters buzzed overhead.
Jakarta police chief Tito Karnavian said one man entered the Starbucks cafe and blew himself up, wounding several inside. As people poured out of the cafe, two waiting gunmen opened fire on them. At the same time, two militants attacked a police traffic post nearby, using what he described as hand grenade-like bombs.
Indonesia has seen attacks by Islamist militants before, but a coordinated assault by a team of suicide bombers is unprecedented and has echoes of the sieges seen in Mumbai seven years ago and in Paris last November.
