Morocco dismantles ‘Daesh-inspired’ terror cell in east

Morocco says it has arrested 10 men who were planning to carry out attacks across the North African country after dismantling a suspected terror cell inspired by the Daesh Takfiri group.

In a statement on Thursday, the Moroccan Interior Ministry said the cell was active in the eastern city of Oujda and the nearby town of Tendrara near the Algerian border.

The arrests were made as the 10 men, including an Algerian national, were meeting at a safe house to plan a robbery at a mall Oujda aimed at funding their assaults across Morocco.

This is the latest in a series of Daesh-linked groups that Morocco has said it has broken up.

In February, Morocco’s Central Bureau of Judicial Investigations (BCIJ) said it had detained members of a Daesh-affiliated terror cell that planned to launch chemical attacks in the country.

Hundreds of militants from Morocco and other Maghreb states like Tunisia and Algeria have traveled to Syria, where they have been fighting alongside the extremist militant groups since 2011.

The Rabat government estimates that 1,500 of Moroccan nationals have joined the ranks of the Takfiri terror groups operating in Iraq and Syria, some 286 of whom have been killed in fighting.

Security experts have warned that they could pose serious security threats and create new terror networkd upon their return to the homeland.

Moroccan security officials said earlier this year that they have dismantled 152 “terrorist cells” since 2002, out of which 31 were linked to Takfiri terrorist outfits in Iraq and neighboring Syria.

Daesh terrorists have taken advantage of the security chaos in neighboring Libya and gained a strong foothold there. They have been using the violence-hit country as a base to train their recruits, with their main stronghold being the coastal city of Sirte.

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