Rabat, April 26: Moroccan security services have dismantled an Al-Qaeda linked network which was preparing to carry out attacks in the kingdom, the north African country’s interior ministry said Monday.
“The security services have recently dismantled a terrorist network linked to Al-Qaeda and composed of 24 members,” the ministry said in a statement.
It said the network “was preparing to commit crimes and acts of sabotage against the security services and interests of Morocco.”
They also recruited Moroccan “activists” to send to locations such as Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia and the Sahel-Saharan zone of west Africa, the ministry said, citing initial details from an inquiry led by a prosecutor.
The 24 were found in posession of a pistol and ammunition that they had taken after attacking a police officer in Casablanca, the statement said. Police also seized knives.
The network includes four Moroccan former detainees convicted of acts of terrorism in the kingdom, the statement said, without giving details on the other suspects.
Since March 2 Moroccan security services have reported the arrest of 30 suspected terrorists, including those announced on Monday.
—Agencies