Jakarta attack toll rises to 8 – police

JAKARTA, Indonesia (UPDATED) – The death toll in the Jakarta extremist attack has risen to 8, including 4 civilian victims and 4 militants, after a wounded Indonesian bystander died overnight, police said Sunday, January 17.

Police had earlier put the toll of victims from Thursday’s (January 14) assault at two, but raised it with the latest death and confirmation that an Indonesian man originally suspected of being a militant was actually a civilian.

The coordinated bomb and gun attack along the capital’s central thoroughfare has been claimed by the Islamic State (ISIS) group. 

Indonesian authorities blame it on an ISIS faction made up primarily of Malay-speaking Indonesians and Malaysians involved in the extremist group’s ruthless fight for a self-proclaimed caliphate in Syria and Iraq.

The Jakarta attack also left two dozen people injured – including some foreigners – several of them in serious condition.

“Another victim who was in a coma since the beginning died last night,” Jakarta police spokesman Muhammad Iqbal told Agence France-Presse, confirming the latest death.

He named him as Rais Karna, 37, an Indonesian who worked at a nearby bank and who died from severe gunshot wounds to the head.

The fourth victim, who was initially thought to be an attacker, was identified as Sugito. Many Indonesians go by a single name.

Police previously confirmed a Canadian citizen was among the dead. All the others were Indonesian.

Authorities in Southeast Asian countries with significant Muslim populations say hundreds of their citizens have gone to join the ISIS jihad in the Middle East, and have repeatedly warned that extremist violence could boomerang back home.

Indonesia is the world’s most populous Muslim-majority country.

Police said Saturday they had arrested 12 people in raids across Indonesia, including a man they believe handled financing for the Jakarta attacks, money that authorities allege came from ISIS. – Rappler.com