RABAT: Moroccan authorities said yesterday they had arrested seven suspected militants linked to Islamic State and seized weapons and explosive belts. A statement from the interior ministry said the group had ties with commanders of the Sunni Islamist group in Syria, Iraq and Libya and had set up a hideout in the coastal town of El Jadida.
It said the Central Bureau of Judicial Investigation seized an assault rifle, seven pistols, ammunition and bomb-making material. Authorities said they also found two explosive belts in the raids in El-Jadida, Sale and other towns.
Morocco, a Western ally against Islamist militancy, says that since 2002 it has dismantled more than 150 militant cells linked to groups fighting in Syria and Iraq.
