ISIS claims responsibility for killing 5 police officers in Indonesian prison riot
At least five counter-terrorism police have been killed and one is being held hostage by Islamist militants in clashes at a jail outside Jakarta, Indonesia. The country is embroiled in an ongoing armed struggle with Islamic State.
The prison in the Depok area has been in lockdown since rioting broke out on Tuesday evening, The Jakarta Post reports. Local roads in the area have been cordoned off and heavily-armed police officers are positioned around the building.
The riot comes as Indonesia struggles to get to grips with Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS), which took responsibility for the attack through Amaq, the IS-affiliated website. IS took responsibility for the attack through Amaq, the IS-affiliated website. It claimed that 10 counter-terrorism counter officers have been killed. The police force confirmed that five officers died along with one prisoner. The prisoner was killed after making repeated threats and attempting to steal a police weapon.
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"Five of our colleagues died.... one of our colleagues is still inside and being held hostage,” National police spokesman Muhammad Iqbal told reporters.
“If they surrender, it will be a non-violent process. But if there is a threat to officers or others, we will take very strong action,” he said, adding that the hostage was reported to be safe and the officers' bodies have been transferred to a nearby hospital.
Iqbal denied IS involvement saying the riot started after prisoners took exception to authorities inspecting their food. The jail holds around 130 convicted terrorists, Reuters reports.
Last year, Indonesia’s military chief warned that IS has established clandestine networks in “almost every province” in the world’s largest Muslim-majority nation. General Gatot Nurmantyo made the warnings as IS-linked militants overran the city of Marawi in the neighboring Philippines.
IS sympathizers have carried out a series of low level attacks in Indonesia in recent years. In 2017, two suicide bombers killed three police and wounded 12 others at a Jakarta bus terminal. Last week, three militants suspected of planning attacks on police stations were arrested in West Java.
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