Morocco said Thursday it had dismantled a ‘terrorist cell' of 10 people including a Frenchman suspected of having links to DAESH and planning attacks in the country. Authorities carried out the arrests in several towns including Essaouira, Meknes, Sidi Kassem and al-Jadida, an interior ministry statement said, without revealing the identity of those detained. "They might have links with extremists fighting with DAESH," it said and had "received instructions to attack installations and sensitive sites" in Morocco. They "planned to bring more extremist elements into their destructive plan... under the supervision of experienced DAESH leaders," it said.
Morocco's Central Bureau of Judicial Investigations Director (BCIJ) Abdelhak Khiame said "They were well equipped to commit a major attack. They wanted to sow psychosis among the population." During the raid six jars of sulphur-containing chemical fertilizer which can be turned into a chemical weapon were found. BCIJ's risk management member M. Elarji told Huffington Post Maghreb "further chemicals which can create the tetanus toxin were recovered too." Ammunition and weapons were seized during the raids, the ministry added.
Morocco is on guard against deadly attacks like those claimed by DAESH in Tunisia last year that killed 59 foreign tourists. Rabat says 152 "terrorist cells" have been broken up since 2002, including 31 with ties to militants in Iraq and Syria since 2013.
As violent militant groups gain worldwide recognition and substantial ground, the number of foreigners fighting alongside militant groups in war-torn countries has hit the thousands. A United Nations report released last April said the number of foreign fighters worldwide increased 71 percent between mid-2014 and March 2015 to 25,000. Morocco, laying at the very end of the Arab-Muslim world and ruled by a monarchy, has become one of the main exporters of foreign fighters, according to a recent report released by the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP) last month, which said that as many as 1,500 Moroccans fight in Syria and Iraq for DAESH. The SWP report criticized the Moroccan government for its insufficient efforts to detect ISIS cells in the country. "With a contingent of around 1,500 fighters, Morocco is considered one of the main exporters of foreign fighters to Syria. Until 2014, Moroccan authorities, who were content to see their own militants leave and add to the pressure on Syria's [President] Bashar Assad, mostly turned a blind eye to networks of recruitment. Since the dramatic rise of ISIS, concern over local repercussions and the return of war-hardened radicals has prompted Rabat to adopt a hardline, security-oriented approach instead. Repression, however, is unlikely to uproot these networks. Instead, a comprehensive strategy for de-radicalization should aim to rehabilitate and reintegrate returning fighters, and use their example to dissuade others from violent militancy," the report said.
Morocco has been trying to stem the flow through two methods. Firstly, the kingdom has tightened security measures and raided several militant cells, arresting and detaining dozens. However, militants find safe havens in the desert, a May 2014 Washington Institute report said. Secondly, the kingdom has adopted a counterterrorism policy that aims to teach it people "true" Islam. "One essential component of Morocco's counter-radicalization strategy is the reorganization of the state's religious structures to protect citizens from invasive, extreme forms of Islam. This program has included publishing an official bulletin of imams, creating a Directorate of Religious Education within the Ministry of Islamic Affairs and decentralizing the ministry's operations, reviewing laws governing Muslim places of worship, establishing a religious council in Europe for the Moroccan diaspora, using radio and television to promote moderate teachings and reviewing textbooks and syllabi to eliminate radical incitement to violence. These and other efforts are particularly important given that Morocco has around 50,000 imams," the same report said.
However, these efforts have so far fallen short of stopping the radicalization of young Moroccans due to several factors. The SWP said that "two-thirds were under the age of 25, and three-quarters belonged to deprived strata that live in the slums of big and medium-sized cities." For instance, Hundreds of protesters gathered Saturday in Morocco's capital to mark the fifth anniversary of the country's pro-reform movement born during the Arab Spring, an AFP journalist said. The demonstrators turned out to celebrate the "February 20 movement" born in 2011 to demand sweeping political and social reforms. However, the kingdom has so far failed to make any reform on the country's economy.
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