MOSCOW, September 13 (RIA Novosti) – Moroccan authorities have announced they have broken up an extremist cell responsible for the dissemination of jihadi messages and recruiting Moroccans to fight with ISIS in Syria and Iraq, the Moroccan Interior Ministry reports.
According to its Friday's statement, seven suspects have been arrested by national security forces on terrorism charges. The Ministry stated that the cell was guided by a primary school teacher and located in the central city of Fez.
Over the course of the year, Moroccan authorities also reported disrupting other jihadist recruitment cells, based in different parts of the country. In March 2014, seven members of an al-Qaida-linked extremist cell were charged with recruiting Moroccan citizens to fight in Syria and other war-torn countries. In August 2014 the state’s police dismantled another terrorist cell, functioning in cities of Tetouan, Fez and Fnideq.
Until recently, Morocco has managed to avoid large-scale terrorist attacks on its territory. Worrisome is, however, that the country has become a haven for extremist networks, linking up with radical groups oversees and recruiting fighters for military operations in Middle Eastern countries.
Moroccan officials consider the new recruiting tendency as a serious threat to national security, as Moroccans fighting abroad can come back to carry out terrorist acts in their homeland.
