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By Fred Burton
In August, Moroccan authorities arrested 56 suspected militants and seized significant amounts of explosives and "propaganda materials" in a series of raids in cities across the north of the country. On Aug. 31, Interior Minister Chakib Benmoussa said at a press conference that suspects were believed to be part of a group called Ansar el-Mehdi (the "Mehdi Partisans" or "Mehdi Support Group") that had been planning strikes against tourist destinations, government installations, foreign businesses and prominent Moroccans -- including several politicians.
In a previous press conference, Benmoussa had said the disrupted network was equipped to carry out attacks that would eclipse the May 2003 strikes in Casablanca, in which 45 people died. The group, which reportedly includes members of the Moroccan armed forces, allegedly wanted to touch off a war against the Moroccan government in the northeastern regions of Nador and Quezzane, and had planned to fund its efforts through bank and armored car robberies.
Moroccan militants long have been involved in the jihadist cause and, in fact, have planned and executed some spectacular attacks. Some of the operatives are quite skilled and professional. That, along with the country's long history of radical Islamism, means Morocco will remain a site of jihadist activity -- with ensuing risks to soft targets -- for the foreseeable future.
Moroccans and Jihadists
There is an extensive history of Moroccan involvement in the jihadist movement. Moroccans have been at the forefront of al Qaeda and the international jihadist network and have been involved in attacks in Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Spain and the Netherlands. In fact, Salafia Jihadia -- an offshoot of the Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group (GICM), an al Qaeda ally that was credited with the May 2003 attacks in Casablanca -- is also believed to have been behind the March 2004 train bombings in Madrid, Spain.
Other examples in the post-9/11 era include the following:
April 2005: Moroccan Abdel Karim al-Majati was killed in a shootout between al Qaeda members and security forces in Saudi Arabia. Al-Majati reportedly was a high-ranking member of the GICM and is believed to have been the al Qaeda operational leader behind the Casablanca attacks.
July 2005: Younis Mohammad Ibrahim al-Hayyari, a Moroccan who was the military leader of al Qaeda's branch in Saudi Arabia, was killed in a shootout with Saudi authorities.
November 2005: Moroccan authorities arrested 17 people in a counterterrorism sweep, including two people who previously had been prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and at least one suspect linked to al Qaeda in Iraq.
November 2005: Al Qaeda announced the appointment of Khaled Habib, a Moroccan, as its field commander for the southeastern provinces of Afghanistan.
April 2006:Several Moroccans were arrested in Italy, where they reportedly had been planning attacks in the northern part of the country, and were deported.
May 2006: The arrests and interrogation of several alleged Moroccan militants in Frankfurt prompted European intelligence services to warn that a militant group was planning attacks against political, business and tourist targets in Morocco.
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