Free Republic

.."surrendered after disagreements with other leaders in the organization."

Investigations into Jama'at al-Tawhid wal-Jihad bil-Maghrib (the Monotheism and Jihad group in Morocco) cells broken up by Moroccan security have revealed the inroads al-Qaeda has made into the region (see Terrorism Focus, Volume II, Issue 22). From the testimony of the arrested Belgian national Mohamed R'ha, al-Qaeda has emphasized the restructuring of its organization in Saudi Arabia and set up affiliate organizations in North Africa. As part of the broader restructuring plan, the Algerian Groupe Salafiste pour la Prédication et le Combat (GSPC) is to rejoin bin Laden's organization and provide support bases for its expansion, in order to more...

RABAT, Morocco - Moroccan police have dismantled a terrorist network, arresting 17 people, including two former prisoners at the U.S. base in Guantanamo, Cuba, the official MAP news agency reported Sunday. At least some of the suspects were linked to al-Qaida in Iraq. Brahim Benchekroun and Mohammed Mazouz — among five Moroccans freed from Guantanamo in August 2004 — were among the suspects. They were arrested Nov. 11 at their homes in connection with a probe into al-Qaida, a Moroccan security official said, among 17 implicated in the network. The official, not authorized to speak publicly, asked not to be...

MADRID (Reuters) - Morocco has warned Spain that it has lost track of 400 Moroccan Islamist militants who trained in al Qaeda camps in Afghanistan, Bosnia or Chechnya, Spanish newspaper El Pais reported on Sunday. Moroccan authorities gave the warning to Judge Baltasar Garzon, Spain's leading al Qaeda expert, in Rabat earlier this month, El Pais said, citing a person who was present at the meeting. Spanish Interior Minister Jose Antonio Alonso, asked about the report, neither confirmed nor denied it but said Spain and Morocco were cooperating closely in the fight against al Qaeda and there was a constant...

<p>A nondescript apartment bloc in Tangiers has been transformed into a must-see spot in that sleepy Moroccan outpost.</p> <p>The reason for the interest in the semi-derelict bloc is that the family of Jamal Zougam are thought to live there. Zougam is believed to have masterminded the 3/11 terrorist attacks. Within days, the Spanish authorities had arrested 11 people, all but two of them, Moroccans.</p>

RIYADH (AFP) - Saudi Arabia, engaged in a crackdown on Islamist extremists blamed for a string of bombings, said it had extradited two Moroccan militants to Rabat in exchange for three Saudis jailed in Morocco on al-Qaeda linked charges. "Security forces today received three Saudi citizens convicted and jailed in Morocco on security-related charges," said an interior ministry official quoted by the state SPA news agency. He named them as Abdullah bin Misfer al-Ghamdi, Zuhair bin Hilal al-Thabiti and Hilal bin Jaber al-Assiri, who were sentenced by a Casablanca court in February last year to 10 years in prison for...