A woman offers flowers during a vigil outside the damaged Starbucks coffee shop in Jakarta on January 15, 2016, a day after a series of explosions hit the Indonesian capital. -AFP Photo
JAKARTA: The militant attacks in Indonesia’s capital have claimed a third victim, with a man dying overnight from gunshot wounds to the head, police said on Sunday.
The Islamic State (IS) group has claimed responsibility for the coordinated bomb and gun assault on Jakarta’s central thoroughfare Thursday, which also left at least four suspected attackers dead.
“Another victim who was in a coma since the beginning died last night,” Jakarta police spokesman Muhammad Iqbal told AFP, naming him as Rais Karna, 37, who worked at a nearby bank.
Police are still trying to determine whether an eighth dead person was part of the attack squad.
Indonesian authorities blame the attack on an Islamic State faction made up of Malay-speaking Indonesians and Malaysians which is part of the extremist group’s ruthless fight for a self-proclaimed caliphate in Syria and Iraq.
Authorities in Southeast Asian countries with significant Muslim populations have repeatedly warned of the threat of their citizens returning from the IS jihad in the Middle East to perpetrate violence at home.
Indonesian police said Saturday they had arrested 12 people in raids across the country, including a man they believe handled financing for the Jakarta attacks, money authorities allege came from the Islamic State group. -AFP