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| Jakarta blasts near United Nations offices in Indonesia |
Jakarta blasts near United Nations offices in Indonesia kill at least four - Six explosions were heard in the centre of the Indonesian capital and casualties were seen lying on the ground, witnesses say.
One blast was in a Starbucks cafe and security forces were later seen entering the building. "This is a bomb," Anton Charliyan national police spokesman told AFP news agency.
"Four people died, one police officer and three civilians.
"For now the gunfire has stopped but they are still on the run, we are afraid there will be more gunshots."
He warned people to stay away, saying police feared there could be more blasts. Officers at the scene told AFP news agency reporters to "get back" because there "is a sniper" on the roof of a building.
"The Starbucks cafe windows are blown out. I see three dead people on the road," a Reuters photographer who was on the scene said.
"There has been a lull in the shooting but someone is on the roof of the building and police are aiming their guns at him."
United Nations regional representative Jeremy Douglas, speaking to the ABC from the UN office in Jakarta, said the building was in lockdown.
He said he had been in a car when the first blast went off. "We got out of the car and we heard a second bomb. Then we heard a third, a fourth, a fifth, a sixth and then gunfire in the street. A lot of gunfire," he said. "They've asked us to avoid the windows."
Some other buildings in the area were also evacuated. The ABC's South-East Asia correspondent Samantha Hawley was on the scene shortly after the explosions. She said the blasts had happened in one of the main city centre areas, about 50 metres from the UN building, near the main roundabout and close to the ABC offices.
"There was gunfire when I arrived," Hawley said.
"A short time ago about 12 police shielded themselves behind a car and as the car moved along they moved along behind it so it does suggest there's still a threat," she said.
Hawley said warnings had been issued by Indonesian security authorities late last year about the danger of attacks.
"There had been warnings there could be some trouble in Indonesia over the Christmas and new year period but that didn't happen," she said.
According to an official Jakarta police Twitter account, one explosion went off in front of a shopping centre called the Sarinah mall.
ABC/wires
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