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Moroccan authorities have dismantled a cell of militants affiliated with the Islamic State group and arrested three suspects accused of plotting an assassination, security services said on Tuesday.
The suspects, detained in the southern city of Errachidia, had planned “terrorist crimes against individuals” and selected an official for “imminent assassination”, according to the Central Bureau of Judicial Investigation (BCIJ), which oversees the fight counterterrorism operations.
Security forces searched the homes of the suspects and a store, where they found military clothing, literature and jihadist information, the statement said.
The head of the cell was “active in recruiting followers of traditional religious currents,” according to the statement released by the state press agency MAP.
“He used his shop as a place of worship after being banned from praying at the mosque, and as a safe place to instill extremist thinking in his supporters,” he said.
The suspects, aged 21, 27 and 37, “had shared terrorist digital content such as that documenting suicide bombings and killings by Daesh,” he said, using an Arabic acronym for it. ‘EI.
They were remanded in custody for further investigation into the cell’s potential international links, its plans and anyone else “involved in its extremist activities,” the statement said, warning that Morocco continues to face the threat. terrorist attacks.
Since 2002, Moroccan security services have dismantled more than 2,000 extremist cells and made more than 3,500 terrorism-related arrests, according to BCIJ figures released in February.
The country has been largely spared from jihadist attacks since 2003, when five suicide attacks left 33 people dead and dozens injured in the economic capital, Casablanca.
But in 2018, two Scandinavian tourists were murdered by militants linked to ISIS while hiking in the High Atlas Mountains.
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