TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Social Affairs Minister Khofifah Indar Parawansa on Tuesday visited a number of victims of last week`s attacks near Sarinah building, Thamrin Boulevard in Central Jakarta.
The minister was accompanied by National Police Chief General Badrodin Haiti during the visits to the hospitals where the victims of last Thursdays bombing were receiving medical treatment.
The minister observed the condition of the victims at Cipto Mangunkusumo Public Hosptial, RSPAD Gatot Subroto Army Hospital, Abdi Waluyo Hospital and Tarakan Hospital.
Besides observing the conditions of the victims, the minster also distributed compensation assistance as tokens of the governments care and sympathy for the victims.
On Thursday (Jan 14), a terrorist launched a suicide attack on a police station on Thamrin Boulevard near the Sarinah Department Store, which was followed by a shootout between three terrorists and the police at the Starbucks Coffee shop adjacent to the Sarinah Department store.
Within hours, the police were able to thwart the attackers, killing two of them, while two others died in the suicide bombings, including one at the police station and the other inside the Starbuck Coffee shop.
The incident also left four civilians dead (one died at a hospital three days later) and 32 injured, including police personnel.
Police have confirmed that they are pursuing other suspected terrorists linked to last Thursdays attacks in Jakarta.
"It is true that we have made an effort to arrest (other suspects) in the bomb attacks near the Sarinah (Department Store), but we cannot yet give further information about it," Chief of the Jakarta Metropolitan Polices Public Relations Service Senior Commissioner Muhammad Iqbal said on Sunday.
He did not divulge the number of suspected terrorists who have been arrested in the wake of the attacks, or the locations of the arrests, since the investigation is ongoing.
Iqbal confirmed that the police searched the houses of people suspected of involvement in the Jakarta bombings.
He said Sugito, who was earlier suspected of involvement in the attacks, was a civilian who was killed in the attacks.
"Sugito, who worked as a courier, was a civilian. He was not a suspected terrorist," he said.
After conducting an investigation, the police came to the conclusion that Sugito was a civilian.
Therefore, the number of suspected terrorists killed in the attack is four, instead of five as reported earlier.
ANTARA
