海角大神

An assault by suicide bombers and gunmen rocked Jakarta Thursday, in what is being described as the first Islamic State attack in Indonesia.

Police took three hours to bring an end to the聽attacks聽in the capital city, in聽which聽at least seven died and聽20 were injured. Five of the dead were attackers.听

Indonesia, the world鈥檚 most populous Muslim-majority country, is no stranger to Islamic terrorism. But聽this latest strike is the first since 2009 when militants bombed two hotels.听

Amaq news agency, linked to Islamic State, claimed聽. Jakarta鈥檚 police chief, Gen. Tito Karnavian, told reporters the attackers had links to Islamic State in Raqqa, Syria.

The聽coordinated assault in Jakarta by a team of suicide bombers and gunmen follows a pattern seen in Mumbai in 2008 and in Paris last November, .听

Gen. Karnavian identified the ringleader of the attackers as Bahrun Naim, an Indonesian currently in Syria. He said Mr. Bahrun had been sentenced to prison in Indonesia in 2012 for offenses involving illegal possession of firearms and explosives.

At least 300 Indonesians have made the , Sidney Jones, director of the Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict in Jakarta, told the New York Times.

Other countries in Southeast Asia are also on alert for potential expansion by Islamic State, which has sought to gain affiliates outside its Middle East base of operations.听

The New York Times quotes an Indonesian political analyst as saying that the government has not done enough in recent years to quell radical Islam. However,聽Ms. Jones noted that while Indonesia has seen a spike in the number of violent plots over the past six months, 鈥�.鈥�

鈥淚t鈥檚 a desire to prove that jihadi groups are still alive and well in Indonesia and are committed to carrying out the ISIS agenda,鈥� she said.

The vast majority of Indonesia鈥檚 250 million citizens practice a moderate form of Islam and there are sizeable minorities of 海角大神s, Hindus, and Buddhists.

But moderate and hard-liner Islamists, some espousing violence, have in recent years been engaged in an internal struggle, with Islamic State making inroads. Until now, most of the militant violence had been聽limited to low-level assaults on police and was blamed on a resurgent聽Jemaah Islamiyah, a Southeast Asian affiliate of聽Al Qaeda.

That group carried out the 2002聽Bali bombing, which left 202 people dead, mostly foreigners on vacation. Prior to Thursday's attack, the last major act of terrorism was in 2009, when . Those attacks were blamed on a splinter group from Jermaah Islamiyah.听

Indonesian authorities had been successful in breaking up many of the groups involved in these attacks, but Thursday's assault could signal a new phase.听

Indonesian President Joko Widodo said in a televised address Thursday, 鈥淥ur nation and our people should not be afraid鈥� We will not be defeated by these acts of terror. I hope the public stays calm.鈥�