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Sarinah attack targeted officers, police claim
Innocent casualty: The police and paramedics remove a body bag containing a victim of the Sarinah attack on Jl
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Innocent casualty: The police and paramedics remove a body bag containing a victim of the Sarinah attack on Jl. MH Thamrin, Central Jakarta, on Thursday. A low-grade explosive took the life of a pedestrian at the attack scene. (Tempo/Amston Probel) (Tempo/Amston Probel)
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span class="inline inline-center">Innocent casualty: The police and paramedics remove a body bag containing a victim of the Sarinah attack on Jl. MH Thamrin, Central Jakarta, on Thursday. A low-grade explosive took the life of a pedestrian at the attack scene. (Tempo/Amston Probel)
At least five of the 24 victims injured in the vicious attack at the Sarinah department store on Thursday were police officers, showing that the attack was aimed at the police, National Police deputy chief Com. Gen. Budi Gunawan has said.
'The five police officers were severely injured by gun or shrapnel wounds. Meanwhile, five alleged terror attackers and two civilians died. One of the fallen civilians was an expatriate,' he said as quoted by tribunnews.com in Jakarta on Friday.
National Police spokesperson Insp. Gen. Anton Charliyan said that at the end of 2015, the intelligence agency had been informed that the Islamic State (IS) movement, also known as ISIS, may strike Indonesia with a terror attack targeting the police, mainly high-ranking officers.
Anton suspected the blasts and shootings at Sarinah were related to the terror plan. However, he underlined that further investigations were needed to validate the hypothesis.
A terrorism observer from the Peace Inscription Foundation, Taufik Andrie, said the Sarinah attackers had shown similar patterns to terrorists who attacked Paris in November 2015, such as shooting at the crowd. The victims, therefore, ranged from expatriates to women and police officers, he added.
'This is similar to the Paris attack, which aimed at the crowd. However, the radical elements [could be] affiliated with ISIS shooting at security personnel as a form of a retaliation for their apprehended mates,' he said as quoted by tempo.co.
Another similarity between the Jakarta and Paris attacks, he continued, could be seen in the openness of the violence carried out. Instead of quietly leaving the area after setting a timed bomb, the attackers joined the crowd of onlookers and calmly shot at them.
'They set the bomb to attract attention. The objective was to gain vast media coverage, to disrupt economic and political stability, and create fear among society,' said Taufik.
National Intelligence Agency (BIN) chief Sutiyoso also suspected the attackers were IS members. 'But to make sure, we need more time to investigate,' he said. (ags)(+)
