JAKARTA, Indonesia — Indonesians were shaken but refusing to be cowed a day after a deadly attack in a busy district of central Jakarta.
In a new development, police on Friday told an Indonesian TV channel they arrested three men on suspicion of links to the attack that killed seven people including five attackers.
The Islamic State group, also known as ISIL, claimed responsibility for the attack Thursday.
The area near a Starbucks coffee shop where the attack by suicide bombers and gunmen began remained cordoned off with a highly visible police presence Friday.
Onlookers and journalists lingered nearby, with some people leaving flowers and messages of support. A large screen atop the building that houses the Starbucks displayed messages that said “#prayforjakarta” and “Indonesia Unite.”
Newspapers carried bold front-page headlines declaring the country was united in condemnation of the attack, which was the first in Indonesia since 2009. Depok area police chief Col. Dwiyono told MetroTV that the three men were arrested at dawn at their homes in Depok on the outskirts of Jakarta.
Dwiyono, who goes by one name, says the men are suspected militants. MetroTV broadcast footage of the handcuffed men being escorted by police.
The mayhem follows swiftly on the heels of Islamic State-linked attacks in Istanbul, Paris and San Bernardino, Calif. – a sign of the global reach of the extremist organization, even as a U.S.-led coalition keeps pounding away at the group’s positions in Syria and Iraq.
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