Islamic State claims responsibility for deaths of five Indonesian police

FIVE Indonesian police are dead and one is being held hostage after a riot broke out in a high-security Jakarta police complex housing terrorist prisoners.

An officer tries to stop reporters from taking pictures outside the headquarters of the Mobile Brigade, an elite Indonesian police force, following the deadly riot.

FIVE Indonesian police are dead along with a terror suspect after a riot in a high-security Jakarta police complex housing terrorist prisoners.

As the stand-off continued into the night, a sixth police officer was being held hostage as a result of the bloody riot, where prisoners are said to have overpowered police and taken their weapons.

Indonesian police have named the five dead officers, all members of the elite anti-terror squad Detachment 88 or known locally as Densus 88, saying they devoted their lives to the Indonesian nation and would all be posthumously promoted.

National Police spokesman, Setyo Wasisto, said police negotiators were attemping to secure the officer’s release.

Armed officers walk outside the headquarters of Mobile Brigade, an elite Indonesian police force, following a riot at the detention centre inside the compound in Depok, West Java, Indonesia.

He said the riot was sparked by a “trivial problem” involving food delivered for a prisoner by his family and demands of the rioters were not clear.

Indonesian National Police spokesman, Brig General M Iqbal, tonight confirmed the five deaths.

“The incident has caused fatalities. There are five of our colleagues and one terrorist inmate (dead). We were forced to take police action as he resisted and took a police weapon,” he said.

“One of our colleagues is still being held hostage and now the situation is conducive. We can secure the situation and block the prison. So it won’t spread. We are still negotiating.”

Islamic State terrorists earlier claimed to have killed the police officers during the riot in a high-security Jakarta police complex which houses terror suspects.

A riot has broken out at Jakarta's Mako Brimob prison

Several Police officers injured after the riot: Police spokesperson. #Depok #ISIS #Jakarta https://t.co/uFtbwnodte

— febriana firdaus (@febrofirdaus) May 8, 2018

Indonesian news, Tempo, has reported the head of public information at police headquarters, Brig Gen M Iqbal said: “Stay calm and not be provoked by the information on social media, let’s filter it before we judge that (the photos and video) are true.”

One unconfirmed image circulating on social media purports to show the hostage, blindfolded and with his hands bound behind his back.

Streets around the Brimob paramilitary police headquarters, in Depok, West Jakarta remain closed off.

Indonesian news agency Detik.com reported late Wednesday seeing six body bags taken from ambulances at the forensic building of the national police hospital.

There are also unconfirmed reports and images that the terror suspects held inside the jail have made a mass pledge of loyalty to Islamic State and its leader al Baghdadi.

Five Indonesian police are dead along with a terror suspect.

Terrorist suspects and those convicted of terrorism are held in the high-security Depok jail.

Among them is Aman Abdurrahman, who is widely believed to be Indonesia’s leading extremist and ideologue and who is accused of masterminding, from his jail cell, a series of deadly terror attacks, including an attack on a Starbucks cafe in Jakarta in 2016 which killed eight people, including four suspects.

His trial, for those attack is ongoing, where evidence has been given that he is the most prominent IS ideologue in Indonesia. He faces the death penalty if convicted. Indonesian news portal, Detik, reported that Abdurrahman’s lawyer has said he was he was not involved in the riot and is housed in a different block.

Originally published as Islamic State claims responsibility for deaths of five Indonesian police