Posted on 06/07/2003 6:39:20 AM PDT by knighthawk
RABAT (Reuters) - Moroccan authorities say they have charged another 19 members and sympathisers of an extremist Islamic movement in connection with suicide bombings in Casablanca last month in which 43 people died.
Some of the men, all Moroccans, had planned similar attacks on the tourist destinations of Marrakesh, Agadir and Essaouira, in southern Morocco, the official MAP news agency said on Friday.
State prosecutor Abdellah Alaoui Belghiti said most of the men, aged between 17 and 40, belonged to an ultra-conservative Islamist movement known as the Salafist Jihad.
Some had declared their support for the May 16 attacks on Casablanca and their readiness to carry out similar bombings in the tourist sites, he said in a statement carried by MAP.
The authorities had previously said the 12 suicide bombers who killed 31 civilians were linked to the small Assirat al-Moustaquim (the Righteous Path) grouping, regarded as just one group within the broader Salafist Jihad tendency.
Salafist Jihad is regarded by analysts as a loose movement composed of smaller, often locally based groups. A more radical splinter group from the Saudi-influenced Salafist movement, its literalist interpretation of Islamic texts emphasises martyrdom.
The state prosecutor said charges against the 19 included complicity in undermining the state's internal security and complicity in premeditated homicide.
The latest move takes to almost 50 the number of people charged following the Casablanca bombings against a Spanish restaurant, a five-star hotel and a Jewish community centre. Eight foreigners were among those killed in the attacks.
According to the prosecutor's statement, three of the 19 arrested had sworn allegiance to Abdelhaq Bentassir, also known as Moul Sebbat, whom authorities regard as one of the main organisers of the bombings. He died in police custody last week.
The statement said one of those charged, a 20-year-old street trader, had given lodging to "leading dangerous individuals from the Salafist Jihad" in his home at Berrechid, 25 miles south of Casablanca, and had intended to smuggle them across Morocco's eastern border into Algeria.
Now that Morocco has sufferred an attack on it's own soil it is rounding up the perpetrators.
Casablanca WAS a huge vacation destination......
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.