France hold 13 after sweep

2004-04-05 14:24

Paris - French counter-espionage services arrested 13 people early on Monday in raids aimed at the Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group (GICM), the organisation blamed for the Casablanca bombings in May 2003 and suspected of being linked to last month's attacks in Madrid.

Reports indicated that 15 people - nine men and six women - were targeted, but an interior ministry statement later said 13 had been placed in detention and were "suspected of belonging to the Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group".

Searches of addresses linked to the suspects were also underway, it added.

The dawn arrests took place in the northeastern Paris suburb of Aulnay-sous-Bois, and at Mantes-la-Jolie and Les Mureaux, dormitory towns on the river Seine, west of the capital. All have high concentrations of North African immigrants.

At Mantes-la-Jolie, witnesses saw police taking away a young woman in a veil and two men, and removing documents and other objects in a bag.

Airport

One person was arrested at Charles De Gaulle airport as he tried to leave France, according to a statement from Paris prosecutor Yves Bot.

The operation was ordered by the anti-terrorist investigating magistrates Jean-Louis Bruguiere and Jean-Francois Ricard, who are looking into the Casablanca bombings. Of the 45 who were killed on May 16 last year, three were French - which explains France's judicial interest.

The interior ministry statement said the swoop followed a long operation by the French domestic intelligence service DST, "in liaison with foreign partners".

It added the operation "at this time does not appear to be linked to the recent attacks which struck the Spanish capital".

Last week, Spain's interior minister, Angel Acebes, said the GICM was the main focus of the probe into the Madrid rail attacks on March 11 that killed 191 people.

France's new interior minister, the former foreign minister Dominique de Villepin, congratulated the DST for its action on Monday.

Designated a terrorist organisation by the US, the GICM is believed to have emerged in the late 1990s, recruiting Moroccans who had trained in armed camps in Afghanistan. Its aims are establishing an Islamic state in Morocco and supporting al-Qaeda's jihad, or holy war, against the West.

"There are strong links between the attacks in Casablanca and Madrid, they were both carried out by the same organisation linked to al-Qaeda, the GICM," said Mohamed Darif, a specialist in Islamic extremism in Morocco.

The Belgian authorities have also been investigating the GICM. Last month, four men suspected of giving logistical support to the organisation were detained, accused of "belonging to a group aiming to commit terrorist acts".

One of the suspects is named in an international arrest warrant issued by the Moroccan government, following the terror attacks in Casablanca, Belgian prosecutors said.

- AFP