Vietnam has expressed its condemnation of the Islamic State (IS) terror attacks which killed seven people, including the terrorists, in Jakarta on Thursday.

The Southeast Asian country censures the recent acts of terror in the Indonesian capital that killed and wounded many people, Le Hai Binh, spokesperson of the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said the same day.

“We would like to extend our sincere condolences to the Indonesian government as well as families of the victims, and strongly believe that those responsible will be severely punished,” the spokesperson stated.

The Embassy of Vietnam in Jakarta has reported that no Vietnamese were killed or injured after terrorists carried out bombings and gunfights in several locations in the city.

The embassy has been working with Indonesian authorities to closely monitor the situation, said Hoang Anh Tuan, Vietnamese Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Indonesia.

The Vietnamese diplomatic body has prepared to be able to deal with any scenario and recommended that the Vietnamese community in Indonesia be on high alert and avoid coming to crowded places.

A hotline has also been established for the Vietnamese people to contact in case of emergency, according to Ambassador Tuan.

Several explosions went off and gunfire broke out in the center of the Indonesian capital on Thursday, in which an Indonesian and a Canadian national were killed, along with five attackers, while 20 people, including a Dutchman, were wounded, according to Reuters.

Two of the militants were taken alive, local police said.

Jakarta police said the attacks were carried out by a network with links to IS forces in Syria and indicated Indonesian extremist Bahrum Naim may have been involved in plotting it, AFP reported.

Islamic State later said it was behind the attacks by suicide bombers and gunmen, the first time the militant group has targeted the world's most populous Muslim nation, said Reuters.

"A group of soldiers of the caliphate in Indonesia targeted a gathering from the crusader alliance that fights the Islamic State in Jakarta," the British news agency quoted the group as saying in a statement. 

Indonesia experienced several militant attacks in the 2000s, the deadliest of which was a nightclub bombing on the holiday island of Bali that killed 202 people, most of them tourists.

The last major militant attacks in Jakarta were in July 2009, with bombs at the JW Marriott and Ritz Carlton hotels, Reuters reported.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!