Indonesia: Explosions in Jakarta near bus station; two dead including suspected bomber

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Two explosions in Jakarta: On Wednesday night at 9 pm, two bomb blasts in a public transport terminal shook the Indonesian capital Jakarta. A suicide bomber is believed to have detonated a bomb at a bus station this evening in Kampung Melayu. More than two people, a police officer, and the suicide bomber have been killed and several injured.

“There were two blasts at around 9:00 PM, close to each other, there are three victims,” East Jakarta police chief Andry Wibowo told TV station MetroTV, without saying whether the victims had been killed or injured.

Witnesses said that the first and second explosions took place between five to 10 minutes apart near the bus stop and a motorcycles parking area.

“From the damage, I can see the explosions were pretty big.” It was not immediately clear what caused the blasts at the Kampung Melayu terminal.

Reuters quoted the Indonesian police as saying that two people died in the blasts including the suspected bomber.

@RadioElshinta Suasana Saat ini di Terminal Kampung Melayu pasca ledakan. Serpihan tubuh Korban ditutup koran . pic.twitter.com/tg524InkEy

— Kent ARock'ers ? (@reporterjail) May 24, 2017

Witnesses told Straits Times the blasts occurred between “five and 10 minutes apart” near a bus stop and a parking area for motorcycles. Local reports suggested the explosions happened near the terminal’s toilet.

TV pictures showed body parts and other debris scattered at the bomb site, smoke rising from the terminal, and police rushing to carry casualties away from the scene.

Also read: Explosion at Ariana Grande concert in Manchester

Indonesia is the world’s most populous Muslim-majority country. It has long struggled with Islamic militancy and hundreds of radicals from the southeast Asian state have flocked to fight with ISIS. Now explosions in Jakarta proves that Terrorist groups continue to do terror attacks and have the capacity and intent to carry out these attacks at anytime and anywhere in the country.

Even before this, Indonesia has faced many Islamic terrorist attacks in the past 15 years. It includes 2002 Bali bombings, in which 202 people were killed. In January last year, four gunmen and four civilians were killed in a gun and suicide attack in Jakarta.

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