Suspected ISIS attacks in Jakarta

Over 100 people came out to the blast site to lay wreaths and signs reading: “We are not afraid.”

READ MORE: At least 7 dead as Jakarta rocked by multiple explosions, gunfire in ISIS-related attacks

Islamic State has claimed responsibility for a series of gun and bomb attacks in central Jakarta earlier Thursday, Reuters reported.

Several explosive devices were planted, while four militants attacked with guns and explosive belts, the jihadist group said in a statement.

According to IS, 15 people were killed in the attack, a claim that contradicts the Indonesian government’s official death toll of seven people.

The group’s responsibility for the Jakarta attack was earlier reported by a news agency affiliated to Islamic State.

New explosions were heard in Jakarta, local Kompas TV tweeted, in the area where fatal gun and bomb attacks took place hours earlier. The channel later tweeted that the sound came from a burst truck tire, but other possible causes were being considered.

The US embassy in Jakarta said it will remain closed on Friday as a precaution following the explosions in the Indonesian capital.

"There is nothing in any act of terror that offers anything but death and destruction. And so we stand together, all of us, united in our efforts to eliminate those who choose terror," it said in a statement.

Washington condemns the bombing attack, US Secretary of State John Kerry said, stressing that such attacks “aren’t going to intimidate nation-states from protecting their citizens and continuing to provide real opportunity, education, jobs, possibilities of a future."

"There is nothing in any act of terror that offers anything but death and destruction. And so we stand together, all of us, united in our efforts to eliminate those who choose terror," Kerry said. 

Islamic State has said it was behind the deadly Jakarta terror attacks, saying it targeted foreign nationals and security forces, Reuters reported, citing an Islamic State-allied news agency.

A Canadian citizen was killed in the Jakarta attack, police said, as cited by local media.

Jakarta attackers were imitating "terror actions" in Paris that killed 130 people in November, Indonesia police said.

"They imitated the terror actions in Paris ... they are likely from the [Islamic State] group," Indonesia's national police spokesman Anton Charliyan said.

Media reports suggest that the death toll in Jakarta attacks has reached 17: five terrorists, five police officers and seven civilians.

Foreign Minister Bert Koenders said a Dutch citizen has been seriously injured in the assaults.

The attack showed that "terrorism can hit everybody. Whether you are shopping in the heart of Paris, in a New York office or on vacation in Jakarta," he said.