Indonesia arrests suspected terror group bombmaker

Indonesian police said yesterday they had arrested a man suspected of being the bombmaker in a terror group accused of robbing a jewellery store to fund militant activities. Fajar Sidik, 29, was detained on Thursday in Semarang city, central Java province, national police spokesman Boy Rafli Amar said. In mid-March police conducted raids in the capital Jakarta and on its outskirts after a robbery at a jewellery store earlier in the month. They shot dead three suspected militants, arrested four others, and confiscated homemade bombs, firearms, and one kilogram of gold. Sidik was part of the group and “assembled the pipe bombs and homemade firearms”, Amar said, adding that he also provided firearms to several suspected militants rounded up in recent months. Police have linked several robberies in recent years to the funding of militancy in Indonesia. Indonesia has been rocked by several deadly terror attacks over the last decade on Western targets, but a crackdown has weakened key militant groups.