Rabat: Moroccan police announced on Monday that they have arrested five Islamic State (IS)-linked suspects who were planning to join IS branch in Libya, the Moroccan interior ministry said.
The suspects, who were active in southern Morocco, were planning to go to Libya through Moroccan-Mauritanian borders with the help of traffickers in the region, it said in a statement.
The cell intended to declare “Jihad” in the kingdom and one of its members was preparing a pressure cocker bomb to carry out a terrorist operation targeting public places, the statement said.
The suspects will be brought before justice after the completion of investigations, Xinhua news agency reported.
Morocco has seen a growing threat from the IS group. The ministry said it has busted 31 terrorist cells since 2013 and foiled “numerous terrorist plans” targeting vital national, Arab and Western interests.
–IANS