Indonesia: Twin blasts in East Jakarta, at least two dead including suicide bomber

Indonesian police said on Wednesday that a suspected suicide bomber and a police officer were killed in explosions near a bus station in the eastern part of the capital, Jakarta.

The explosion injured nine people, of which four were police officers, the police said. 

Vice National Police Chief Syafruddin said an initial investigation showed there were two explosions and a suspected suicide bomber had also died.

"Tonight, to Indonesian citizens and all of us who are here at the scene, I express very deep concern. There have been bomb explosions at the Kampung Melayu bus terminal and for now they are believed to have been a suicide bombing," he said.

There were two blasts in Kampung Melayu that went off five minutes apart late in the evening, police said in a statement.

National police spokesman Setyo Wasisto said two people had died and nine others were injured five civilians and four policemen. He said the victims were taken to several hospitals.

The explosion occurred in a parking lot next to the bus terminal in eastern Jakarta. A bomb squad was investigating the explosion as heavily armed police guarded the area.

TV channels showed people helping a victim lying on the ground, and three policemen carrying another victim away from the scene.

Authorities in the world's biggest Muslim-majority nation have been increasingly worried about a resurgence in radicalism, driven in part by a new generation of militants inspired by Islamic State.

There has been a series of low-level attacks linked to Islamic State since January 2016, when four militants mounted a gun and bomb assault in the heart of Jakarta.

Eight people were killed in that attack, including the militants.