F

our terrorists attacked buildings and a police post near the Sarinah shopping center in Central Jakarta on Thursday, an area packed with embassies, government offices and the UN headquarters.

The 21-minute carnage, which involved homemade bombs and gunfire, has claimed the lives of four innocent civilians and the four perpetrators.

But the attack may have been worse if police officers had not saved the day.

One of the officers, Adj. Sr. Comr. Untung Sangaji, who managed to prevent further casualties by thwarting two of the four terrorists, Muhammad Ali and Afif, also known as Sunakim.

Just before the attack, he had completed his patrol around the State Palace, near Sarinah. '€œ[After that, me and my patrol partners] were looking for a coffee shop.'€

Untung, who is an instructor at the Maritime Police Training Center, then decided to go to Walnut cafe so his friend could smoke inside.

'€œAfter 10 minutes inside we heard a loud explosion. I went outside, thinking that a tire had exploded,'€ he said. '€œBut even before I exited the cafe, I saw hundreds of people running on the sidewalk.'€

Untung, a former counterterrorism intelligence officer who once served in restive Poso in Central Sulawesi, and his patrol partners rushed to the scene, where a second explosion occurred at a traffic police post at the intersection of Jl. MH Thamrin.

The second explosion led to the death of civilian Rico Hermawan, 20, who had been taken to the police post for an alleged traffic violation.

The police have yet to determine whether the second explosion was a suicide bomb attack or simply a planted bomb that went awry.

'€œWhen I saw the victim already lying on the street, I immediately cocked my weapon. I searched around the premises to see whether there was a bomb or not,'€ Untung said.

During that time, people had already gathered around the scene. '€œI yelled '€˜call the ambulance'€™ but instead of helping the police, they opted to take photos and selfies.'€

Soon after that, Untung said he heard gunshots coming from the Starbucks coffee shop at the Cakrawala Building, also located near the police post. It was then that the two terrorists, Afif and Ali, appeared from the crowd, walking in the direction of the Starbucks and firing and throwing bombs at police and civilians. The gunfire injured Rais Karna, 37, an office boy for Bangkok Bank. Rais passed away on Sunday from wounds sustained in the attack.

'€œOne of the people who was taking selfies dropped to the ground,'€ he said. '€œThen, I looked in the direction where the gunshots were coming from.'€

One of the gunmen then entered the parking lot of the Starbucks and started shooting. Canadian Amer Quali Tahar, 69, was killed during the gunfire.

The police and gunmen started firing at each other and the showdown led to four officers getting shot. During the shoot-out, Afif and Ali attempted to throw bombs at the police and were eventually cornered into hiding behind a car.

It was at this time that Untung started shooting at the gunmen.

'€œI shot at the car windows and apparently hit him [one of the gunmen]. It turned out that he was carrying a bomb, which dropped and exploded. Another bomb also released smoke and exploded afterward,'€ Untung said.

Both gunmen were killed by the bomb, which exploded prematurely.

'€œMaybe [people wonder] why I was [so courageous] like that. I wasn'€™t crazy. We didn'€™t have any other option but to do our best. If I left the scene to look for other bodyguards, [then the bomb could have killed other civilians],'€ said Untung.

Police officers then combed the area for the next four hours to search for other perpetrators. Although no one else was found, the Jakarta Police secured six active bombs that had yet to be detonated.
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