Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan appealed for calm in the nation’s capital following the deadly explosions that rocked five sites in East Java over the past two days.
In a press conference at City Hall this morning, Anies said that Jakartans are safe to carry out their normal daily routines and that extra steps have been taken to keep government buildings, houses of worship and crowded locations secure.
“All of the police, the Public Order Agency (Satpol PP) and government officials are all on alert status. More than 36,000, as we speak, are out in the field ensuring all vital objects in Jakarta are safe, and they can react quickly to citizen reports,” Anies said, as quoted by Tirto today.
Among the houses of worship the police secured is the Santa Anna Catholic Church in Duren Sawit, East Jakarta, following a bomb threat from an unidentified caller earlier in the morning. No explosives were found at the site.
Anies also urged the public not to share unconfirmed reports or hoaxes online in order to preserve calm in the capital. The police say one particularly popular hoax that has been circulating online and in chat groups recently was a warning that malls in Jakarta, including Grand Indonesia, Senayan City, and Pondok Indah Mall, as well as several others in Surabaya, are being targeted by terrorists.
“There were some malls in Jakarta and Surabaya that were named as targets, but until now we can confirm that it’s not true,” said Jakarta Metro Police Spokesperson Argo Yuwono, as quoted by Kompas today.
Suicide bombings took place at three different churches in Surabaya on Sunday morning, killing at least 14 and injuring 42. Investigators believe that a single family (including the father, mother and four children aged 9-18) were behind the attacks and that they were linked to the Surabaya chapter of Jemaah Ansharut Daulah, a terrorist network with links to Islamic State (IS). Officials also believe they were among 500 Indonesians recently returned from Syria who had gone to the Middle East to fight with IS and that they had spent some time with the terrorist group learning about terrorism tactics and bomb making.
Islamic State claimed responsibility for the suicide bombings via its propaganda agency Amaq, calling them “martyrdom attacks”.
Then, at around 9 pm, a homemade bomb prematurely exploded in the neighboring city of Sidoarjo in what the police have disturbingly described as another family affair akin to the Surabaya church bombings. Three were killed in this incident.
On Monday morning, five suspected suicide bombers — all believed to be from one family — attacked the Surabaya Police HQ. Four of the alleged bombers were killed, while the youngest among them, an 8-year-old, survived. Four police officers were wounded.
