On 14 January 2016, multiple explosions and gunfire were reported near the Sarinah shopping mall in central Jakarta, Indonesia, at the intersection of Jalan Kyai Haji Wahid Hasyim and Jalan MH Thamrin. One blast went off in a Burger King restaurant outside the mall. The attack occurred near a United Nations (UN) information centre, as well as luxury hotels and foreign embassies. The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) confirmed that a Dutch UN official was seriously injured in the attacks. It was reported an armed stand-off took place on the fourth level of the Menara Cakrawala on Jalan MH Thamrin. At least eight people—four attackers and four civilians —were killed, and 23 others were injured due to the attack. The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) claimed responsibility.

Jakarta, officially the Special Capital Region of Jakarta and formerly known as Batavia until 1949, is the nation's capital city and the centre of the largest metropolis of Indonesia. Lying on the northwest coast of Java, the world's most populous island, Jakarta is the largest metropole in Southeast Asia, and serves as the diplomatic capital of ASEAN. Jakarta is bordered by two provinces: West Java to the south and east; and Banten to the west. The Special Capital Region has a status equivalent to that of a province. Its coastline faces the Java Sea to the north, and it shares a maritime border with Lampung to the west. Jakarta's metropolitan area is ASEAN's second largest economy after Singapore.