Often touted as a bastion of a moderate cultural Islam, Morocco is just as susceptible to jihadist recruitment as anywhere else — witness the Moroccans in the Al-Qaeda cell.
By Sammy Ketz for Agence France-Presse (thanks to all who sent this in):
MOROCCO’S security forces were on maximum alert today after “established terror threats” by what experts said was the regional branch of al-Qaeda.
Interior Minister Chakib Benmoussa informed the country’s security experts yesterday of a “current threat” against the northwest African country.
The alert demands the full mobilisation of the security services and the “redoubling of vigilance”, the interior ministry said after the meeting.
Morocco has been on edge since a series of suicide bomb attacks earlier this year which killed a police officer and injured 45 people.
“Reliable information relayed in recent days to the interior ministry described the preparation of acts of terrorism in Morocco,” a Moroccan security source said on condition of anonymity….
In Britain eight people were detained after failed attacks in London and Glasgow last week and in Spain police arrested four Moroccans suspected of having links to an al-Qaeda cell.
But Mr Darif said authorities also reacted to a video cassette, attributed to al-Qaeda, in which Moroccan Islamists threaten the kingdom….
FBI chief Robert S Mueller was in Rabat last week and Germany’s junior interior minister August Hanning discussed anti-terror measures with Moroccan colleagues this week.