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| Africa: North |
| Al-Qaeda recruiting surge in Morocco |
| 2004-08-28 |
| Morocco reports a huge increase in the Al Qaida-inspired Islamic insurgency network. Moroccan media quote a report by the kingdom's intelligence agency as citing a huge increase in Islamic insurgency activities and network. The report was quoted as saying that Morocco has as many as 3,000 insurgency operatives. The release of the report came in wake of an assertion by a leading Spanish counter-terrorism official that northern Morocco contains 1,000 Al Qaida-inspired operatives. The official said about 40 percent of the insurgents were believed to have disappeared, with many of them fleeing to neighboring Spain and Western Europe. The Moroccan report appears to confirm many of the details in the briefing given by Spanish counter-terrorist Judge Baltasar Garzon to a 16-member Spanish parliamentary commission on July 15. Garzon said many of the Islamic insurgency groups come from northern Morocco and their members speak perfect Spanish. The mastery of the Spanish language, he said, has enabled insurgents to easily enter Spain from Gibraltar. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |