Veiled ‘female terrorist’ is shot during gunfight in Indonesia’s national police headquarters days after ISIS newlyweds blew themselves up in cathedral suicide attack
- A woman wearing a blue veil has been shot by police in Jakarta, Indonesia today
- Local reports claim gunshots were exchanged by the woman and officers
- Footage from local media shows the woman appearing to be shot and fall down
This is the moment a veiled woman was shot by police in Indonesia today after she appeared to point a gun at officers in the national police headquarters compound.
Dramatic footage shows the woman, seen wearing a blue veil and long black clothing, slump to the ground as shots are heard ringing out at the complex in Jakarta.
Moments before, the woman appeared to point a weapon at officers who then opened fire.
Local reports claim cops are treating the incident as an ‘alleged terror attack’ but there are conflicting reports over whether the suspect is dead.
A person, believed to be a woman, wearing a blue veil and a long black outfit is seen walking into the grounds of the Indonesian national police headquarters in Jakarta with their arms up (left). In local media footage, gunshots can be heard and the woman is seen falling to the ground (right)
After the veiled woman appears to be shot, she falls down to the floor and lies motionless
The lone figure is then seen lying motionless on the ground and local TV station TV One said that gunfire had been exchanged and that one person at the scene was dead, though this has not been confirmed.
Police could not immediately be reached for comment.
The incident comes only days after two suicide bombers attacked a cathedral in the city of Makssar on Sulawesi island, injuring 20 people.
The newlywed couple who attacked the church belonged to pro-Islamic State extremist group Jamaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD), police have said, warning of more possible attacks.
A woman wearing a blue veil and long black clothing has been shot by police today in Indonesia after gunshots were heard coming from the national police headquarters in Jakarta. Pictured: A police security team guard the entrance to the national police headquarters in Jakarta today after gunfire was heard coming from the compound
Gunshots can be heard in the footage as multiple people are seen keeping their distance from the woman before she is seen falling to the ground while gunshots can be heard. Pictured: A team of police stand guard outside the Jakarta police headquarters
Local reports described the woman as an ‘attacker’ and showed footage of the woman entering the grounds of the police headquarters in Jakarta. Pictured: A police security team stand guard outside the headquarters in Jakarta today following an alleged shootout
Sunday’s explosion at the main Catholic cathedral in Makassar took place just after congregants finished celebrating Palm Sunday, the first day of Holy Week, which commemorates Jesus’s entry into Jerusalem.
Police outposts have been frequent targets of Indonesian extremists in the past.
The world’s most populous Muslim-majority country has long struggled with Islamic militancy and has suffered a number of devastating attacks in the past two decades.
The 2002 Bali bombings were the country’s worst-ever terror attack, killing more than 200 people, mainly foreign tourists.
Indonesia’s security forces regularly arrest suspected militants and attacks have often been low-level and have targeted domestic security forces.
The lone figure is then seen lying motionless on the ground and local TV station TV One said that one person at the scene was dead and gunfire had been exchanged
Pictured: The gates leading into the Indonesia national police headquarters in Jakarta stand closed, with a team of police officers standing guard
Before Sunday, one of the country’s last major deadly attacks was in 2018, when a dozen people were killed after a family of suicide bombers blew themselves up at churches during Sunday services in Indonesia’s second-biggest city Surabaya.
The family – including two daughters, aged nine and 12 – and another family of five, which carried out the suicide bombing of a police headquarters, all belonged to the same Koran study group and were linked to JAD, which has pledged allegiance to the so-called Islamic State.
Formed in 2015, JAD gained notoriety the following year for a gun and suicide bomb attack in the capital Jakarta that killed four civilians and four attackers – including one who blew himself up at a Starbucks outlet.
It was the first attack claimed by IS in Southeast Asia.
JAD was also implicated in a 2019 cathedral suicide bombing in the Philippines committed by a married Indonesian couple which killed worshippers and security forces.