Security forces in Morocco are holding nine suspected al Qaeda activists, whom local newspapers said were part of a ring that plotted bomb attacks in France, Italy and Morocco, state news agency MAP said on Monday.Morocco has been on alert since 2003 when suicide bombers killed 45 people in Casablanca, the country's financial capital. More than 3,000 people have been arrested since on suspicion of having terrorist connections. Many have been released but hundreds have been jailed after trials, officials said.
| That's what usually happens after a trial in which one is found guilty. |
MAP did not give more details. Government officials were not immediately available for comment.
| "We can say no more!" |
Pro-government daily al Alam, one of the dailies that had reported extensively on the case, said a Tunisian, named as Mohamed Benhedi Msahel, traveled from Italy, where he lived, to Algeria and Morocco to recruit bombers for the plots. It said al Qaeda network leader Osama bin Laden endorsed the planned attacks. Al Alam said the attacks in Italy were modeled on the Madrid train bombings on March 11, 2003, in which 191 people were killed and more than 2,000 injured.
In Algeria, Msahel met a leader of the country's largest outlawed Islamic militant Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC), which is aligned with al Qaeda, to review details of the planned attacks before returning to Morocco. He had planned to return to Italy, but was arrested, the newspaper added.
An European Muslim convert was due to join five Jihadist bombers recruited in Italy, the daily added but gave no details about who was due to carry out the four attacks in France.