Jakarta attacked

[Gob]

Militants launched a gun and bomb assault killing at least six people in the centre of the Indonesian capital on Thursday, police said, in an attack that followed a threat by Islamic State fighters to put the country in their “spotlight”.

Media said six bombs went off and a Reuters witness saw three dead people and a gunfight going on. One blast was in a Starbucks cafe and security forces were later seen entering the building.

Police said they suspected a suicide bomber was responsible for at least one of the blasts and up to 14 militant gunmen were involved in the attack, Metro TV reported.

“The Starbucks cafe windows are blown out. I see three dead people on the road. There has been a lull in the shooting but someone is on the roof of the building and police are aiming their guns at him,” said a Reuters photographer.

Indonesia has been on edge in recent weeks over the threat posed by Islamist militants and counter-terrorism police have launched a crackdown on people with suspected links to Islamic State.

“We have previously received a threat from Islamic State that Indonesia will be the spotlight,” police spokesman Anton Charliyan told reporters. But he said police did not know who was responsible.

He said three policemen and three civilians had been killed.

“I saw a police officer shot right in front of me,” one witness told TV One.

One explosion went off in front of a shopping centre called the Sarinah mall, on a main avenue. Media said a police post outside the mall was blown up.

Police snipers were deployed among hundreds of other security officers.

A U.N. building near the scene was in lock-down with no one allowed in or out, a witness said. Some other high-rise buildings in the area were evacuated.

Indonesia’s central bank is located in the same area, and a spokesman for the bank said a policy meeting was going ahead and a decision on interest rates would be announced as planned later in the day.

An explosion was heard in the western suburb of Palmerah, according to a domestic media tweet, but police said they could not confirm a blast there.

Indonesia has the world’s largest Muslim population, the vast majority of whom practise a moderate form of the religion.

[Lord Jim]

And yesterday in Turkey, it was the German's turn to be targeted:

Turkey: 'IS suicide bomber' kills 10 in Istanbul Sultanahmet district

A suspected member of the Islamic State (IS) group has killed 10 people, at least eight of them German tourists, in a suicide bomb attack in the Turkish city of Istanbul, officials say.

They say the Syrian national carried out the attack in the Sultanahmet district, near the famous Blue Mosque.

Fifteen people were wounded, many of them also German.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey was the "top target for all terrorist groups in the region".

The shops and restaurants around the Blue Mosque are open tonight but deserted - no surprise when the German government has warned its tourists to stay away from crowded open areas.

The Turkish government now firmly believes this was an attack by the so-called Islamic State - a reflection of Turkish foreign policy, with Turkey an increasingly active part of the US coalition against IS.

One source said Turkey had taken the lead recently at a meeting of anti-IS armed groups on the Syrian border. IS has been losing territory in Iraq and in Syria. The Syrian town of Manbij may be next to fall - there are reports of IS commanders pulling out.

As IS comes under pressure, it has warned of more attacks against its enemies - not only in Turkey, but in Europe and the US.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-35290760

Wow, those evil Republicans and the fiends at FOX News sure have been working overtime inventing this make-believe radical Islamist terrorist threat...

If you didn't know better, you might actually think something was really going on...

I'll bet it's a bunch of conservative white Christians pretending to be Islamic extremists, just to try and make innocent Muslims look bad....

When they check out where the attacker was staying undoubtedly they'll find a confederate flag....

[Gob]

[Econoline]

Militants launched a gun and bomb assault killing at least six people in the centre of the Indonesian capital on Thursday, police said, in an attack that followed a threat by Islamic State fighters to put the country in their “spotlight”.

The Trumpanzees and the GOP Evangelicals will no doubt be DELIGHTED to hear this news, since they have been insisting that we must wage war against all Muslims worldwide, due to the fact that all Muslims share the ideology of Da'esh and that there is no such thing as a "moderate" Muslim.

How fortunate that they have an enthusiastic ally, willing to help them in their fight.

[MajGenl.Meade]

A suitable subject for sarcasm from any angle? This kind of escalation and the resultant deaths of innocent tourists and Moslem locals in two Islamic countries demands something more than 'politics as usual' squabbling.

There is an enemy - it isn't us. I wonder if Facebook will generate flag overlays - Turkey and Indonesia. That'll show 'em

[Gob]

The so-called Islamic State (IS) has said it was behind a series of explosions and gun attacks in the Indonesian capital Jakarta.
At least two civilians and five attackers died in the assaults, described as an attempt to mimic the deadly Paris attacks.
Security forces battled militants for hours in a major business and shopping district.
It follows warnings late last year that Islamists were planning a major attack.
IS released a statement online claiming the attacks, which it said were carried out by "soldiers of the Caliphate", targeting "citizens of the Crusader coalition" against the group.