Off the wire
Lancang-Mekong Cooperation senior officials to meet in south China  • Kenya starts implanting microchip in rhinos to combat poaching  • Singaporean foreign minister to visit China  • Xi urges improved policies for China's aging population  • Chinese investors eye Kenya's blossoming water industry  • Roundup: Zimbabwe shuts 6 diamond firms' operation, forces merger  • 2d LD: Syria agrees to cessation of hostilities  • China bans local governments from borrowing for land reserve  • Somalia passes law on anti-money laundering, terrorism  • Spotlight: Chinese people celebrate Lantern Festival worldwide  
You are here:   Home

Morocco, Spain arrest 4 suspected IS members

Xinhua, February 23, 2016 Adjust font size:

Moroccan and Spanish security services have arrested four people suspected of recruiting and sending fighters to the Islamic State (IS) group, the Moroccan Interior Ministry announced Tuesday.

In a joint operation, three people were arrested in the Spanish enclave of Ceuta, and their partner in the northeastern city of Nadir, the ministry said in a statement.

It revealed that one of the suspects is a former Guantanamo detainee who fought with al-Qaida in Afghanistan.

The arrested person in Morocco will be brought before court after the public prosecutor's office completes its investigation, the statement added.

The terror cell is the sixth one to have been dismantled in 2016.

On Thursday, the ministry said that security forces foiled "dangerous" IS terrorist attacks and arrested 10 suspects, including a French national.

The busted cell planned series of attacks against key Moroccan sites, including a suicide attack in the country's parliament building, the official Maghreb Arab Press (MAP) agency reported on Saturday.

The attack on the parliament was planned to be carried out by a 16-year-old boy who received extensive training, the report said citing a source close to the investigations.

The ministry said it has arrested over 30 terrorist cells since 2013 and foiled "numerous terrorist plans" targeting vital national, Arab and Western interests. Endit