Jakarta attacks: Islamic State says it was responsible

Alleged Mastermind of the attack in Jakarta

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.

Jakarta Police chief Tito Karnavian said Indonesian national Bahrun Naim, who has been known to the authorities since at least 2010 and is currently thought to be in Syria, had been "planning this for a while".

f you didn't know and didn't look too closely, you could be standing near the site of today's bombings in Jakarta and have no idea this country has just experienced its worst terror attack since 2009. Hours after it began, the street has been swept, the blood washed away, and the traffic is flowing.

But look closer and there's a hole in the road where suicide bomb went off. The traffic is lighter than usual and the street food hawkers are doing a less than brisk trade, even though dozens of people are milling around, having a look, staring at the flowers of condolence placed in the centre of the intersection.

Many here have been worried about the rise of IS and what that means for home-grown terror groups. Today perhaps they got the beginnings of an answer.