'Al-Qaeda' recruiters arrested

2008-07-02 19:25

Rabat - Thirty-five alleged recruiters for al-Qaeda operations in Algeria and Iraq were arrested by police in Morocco, where they are also accused of planning attacks, the Moroccan news agency said on Wednesday.

"This network recruited and sent around 30 candidates for suicide operations in Iraq and three volunteers to fight alongside members of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb," police told Map.

The suspects allegedly belong to a Salafist group, Salafiya Jihadiya - a security source told AFP - and have links to al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, as well as al-Qaeda movements in Lebanon, Syria and Turkey.

"The suspects were also planning acts of terror in Morocco," Map's source said.

This is the third such group Morocco has said to have broken up since the beginning of the year.

The latest arrests took place in Tangiers, Larache, Oujda, Tetouan, Rabat, Khouribga and Fes, a security official told AFP.

Moroccan police in February announced the arrest of 36 people alleged to have been part of an Islamist network led by Belgian-Moroccan Abdelkader Belliraj.

In May, police in Morocco said they dismantled a network planning attacks in Belgium and Morocco. Two of the suspects have since been acquitted.

The Algerian-based group previously known as the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC) vowed allegiance to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda last year.

Though most of its attacks are still launched in Algeria, it has also carried out operations in other North African countries.

- AFP