The terror cell that was dismantled in several Moroccan cities was preparing to carry out dangerous terror suicide attacks, said, on Friday in Salé, director of the Central Bureau of Judicial Investigations (BCIJ) Abdelhak Khiame.
“The terror cell reminds of the events of May 16 in Casablanca, given the fact that its members are suicide attackers,” Khiame said during a press briefing on the presentation of latest data on the cell’s dismantling.
The decision to intervene was taken after it appeared that the cell had reached an advanced level and was preparing to carry out attacks, he explained.
According to Khiame, “if these attacks were carried out, they would have caused tragedies in the Kingdom.”
He also deemed professional the BCIJ intervention, adding that it was carried within the framework of the law, given the dangerousness of the members of this cell.
During the arrests and search operations, chemicals to make explosives were found as well as balaclavas, bladed weapons and explosive belts, BCIJ head noted, highlighting the fact that the cell planned to carry out suicide attacks against public and military figures besides the headquarters of the security services.
The technical expertise carried out on the seized objects revealed that the cell members were preparing to carry out bomb attacks using a “pressure cooker” loaded with explosive substances, as well as explosive vests, Khiame said, stressing that the vigilance of the security services has thus spared Morocco a “bloodbath.”
The investigations with the five individuals arrested will start this Friday once the sanitary and preventive measures are completed and once the suspects are submitted to Covid-19 tests, he added.
The members of the cell were planning to pledge loyalty to the so-called Islamic State, El Khiam said. He warned that ISIS’s terrorist ideology did not end with the fall of the organization or its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in Syria and Iraq.
The terrorist ideology still poses a security challenge for all countries, especially for Morocco, which is present in the Sahel and Sahara region, Khiame warned.
The ISIS-linked terror cell was dismantled early Thursday following security operations carried out simultaneously in the cities of Tangier, Tiflet, Temara and Skhirat, which led to the arrest of five extremists aged between 29 and 43.
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