Moroccan security services have “dismantled a vast terrorist network of jihadists”, which was planning to perpetrate acts of violence in Morocco, the government press reported on Monday. According to the Moroccan News Agency (MAP), a prompt reaction of the security a gencies made it possible to identify and arrest the network’s main active members. It did not state the date of the arrests. MAP said 23 of them, including the leader, Abdelkader Belliraj, have been remand ed in custody. It said investigations under the authority of the Public Prosecutor’s Office made it possible to identify the group’s connections with terrorist organisations operating in Morocco and abroad. On 16 May 2003, four suicide attacks struck the city of Casablanca, killing 41 people and wounding more than 100 others. The terrorists used a car bomb and explosive device against Farah-Maghreb Hotel, the Consulate of Belgium, an Israeli cultural centre (The Circle of the Israeli Alliance) and a plush restaurant, Casa de Espana (The House of Spain). Fourteen terrorists died in the operation.
