"It was tackled quickly. After they took place at around 10:30 am, we were able to reopen Thamrin street. It was settled quickly and well," the Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs, Luhut Panjaitan, said after a limited cabinet meeting on the incident led by President Joko Widodo here on Thursday.
He said the incident had actually been anticipated following information in November 2015 about "orchestra."
He said security authorities had already made arrests since then. "However, we never know when and where (the orchestra) would happen. No intelligence agency anywhere can give exact information about it and so there is nothing called being off-guard."
Cabinet Secretary, Pramono Anung said President Widodo had cut short his visit to West Java due to the terror attack.
"The government has successfully overcome it," he said.
"We asked the media to not give information, which is not valid. Terror attacks only took place at a cafe and on the Thamrin crossroad. The government has been able to control the situation and so the people must remain calm. The government is not afraid and so people also must not be afraid," he added.
Commenting on the death toll, Pramono said seven persons had died, including five of the alleged terrorists.
"Two others are civilians, one is an Indonesian citizen and one is a Canadian. Meanwhile, 20 people were wounded, including five policemen and 15 civilians," he stated.(*)
Editor: Heru Purwanto
Copyright © ANTARA 2016
