‘Two died in Jakarta double bombing’

Two blasts have rocked a public-transport terminal in the Indonesian capital Jakarta, and caused two casualties, police said on Wednesday.

Indonesian police suspected that the explosions were caused by a ‘suicide bomber’ and confirmed that one police officer and the alleged attacker lost their lives.

According to hospital officials, at least three people were injured and are receiving medical care.

“There were two blasts at around 9pm, close to each other, there are three victims,” Andry Wibowo, East Jakarta police chief, told TV station MetroTV without saying whether the victims had been killed or injured.

“From the damage I can see the explosions were pretty big.”

Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim-majority country, has long been fighting armed groups, and hundreds of fighters have flocked to fight with ISIL in Syria and Iraq.

In 2016, a gun and suicide attack in Jakarta left four attackers and four civilians dead, and was the first assault claimed by ISIL in Southeast Asia.

Indonesia has suffered a series of attacks in the past 15 years, including the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people, mostly foreign tourists.

A sustained crackdown weakened the most dangerous networks but the emergence of ISIL has proved a potent new rallying cry for armed groups.

Source: News agencies