Identification of seven
bodies from Thursday’s
attacks ongoing

The police are still identifying the bodies of seven people killed in attacks on Jl. M.H. Thamrin in Central Jakarta on Thursday.

According to National Police chief Gen. Badrodin Haiti, identification was being crosschecked by the National Police’s Disaster Victim Identification (DVI) unit with the DNA of relatives of those killed.

“Of course, we can’t rely solely on visual identification. Several tests should be done to meet the standards of identification, not only a single source,” said Badrodin at the Sukanto Police Hospital in East Jakarta on Friday.

A series of explosions and gunfire occurred near the Sarinah shopping center, about 1 kilometer from the State Palace and other government officers, at 10:55 a.m. on Thursday, killing five suspected attackers and two innocent civilians.

Badrodin said he had asked the DVI team to reconfirm their identities to avoid any errors. The police said that the identity of a Canadian, who was one of the two civilians, had not been verified. “In relation to body of the Canadian citizen, we will do the same identification. We will check his identity and find out who he is,” he said.

Meanwhile, DVI chief Sr. Comr. Anton Castelani was reluctant to reveal the preliminary identities of the seven dead. “Due to the process of the investigation, we cannot yet reveal their identities,” Anton said as quoted by kompas.com.

According to Anton, the results of identification by DVI team will be handed over to investigators and subsequently revealed to the public in order not to prejudice an investigation.

Likewise, the National Police's medical and health center head, Brig. Gen. Arthur Tampi, said his team did not have the authority to reveal the identities of the dead. “We are not authorized to provide information. Let the spokesman do it,” Arthur said. (bbn)(+)