Terrorist cell dismantled in Morocco

RABAT – Moroccan authorities dismantled Friday a suspected terrorist cell in the northern city of Tangier.

The FBI-like Central Bureau of Forensic Investigations (BCIJ) arrested eight suspects, including the brother of two Islamic State jihadists in Iraq.

The preliminary investigation revealed that members of the suspected cell, adhered to the propaganda of the jihadist group and its extremist speeches, while attempting to perpetrate major terrorist operations in the North African kingdom, according to BCIJ statement.

The latest anti-terror operation is part of the ongoing efforts of Moroccan security services to address all threats likely to undermine the country’s security and stability, said BCIJ.

Until last year, Morocco had been spared jihadist attacks since 2011, when a bomb attack on a cafe in Marrakesh's famed Jamaa El Fna Square killed 17 people, most of them European tourists.

Attacks in the North African state's financial capital Casablanca killed 33 people in 2003.

Those attacks - carried out by 12 suicide operatives who came from one of Casablanca's main shanty towns - greatly affected public opinion.

Morocco has since improved its security and legal framework, alongside boosting supervision of religious affairs and anti-terror cooperation with other states.