Morocco rounds up alleged Islamic State suspects

Morocco's interior ministry said on Friday that seven people have been arrested on suspicion of recruiting fighters to join the ranks of the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq.

According to a statement from the ministry, the suspects had been active in the central cities of Fez and Outat al-Haj, as well as in Zayou in the north.

The suspects had been planning “to carry out ‘terrorist’ attacks targeting sensitive sites in the country” of Morocco, the ministry reported.

A primary school teacher from Fez was among those arrested, and was identified by the statement as a “ringleader” of the cell, who is accused of sending several fighters to Iraq and Syria before his arrest.

The arrests were made on the basis of information supplied by “detailed information provided by Director General Monitoring National Soil.”

The suspects will be brought before a court as soon as research into the case is finished, reported the ministry, though it did not give any further details as to how long the detainees will be held before trial.

The ministry gave no information as to when the arrests were made, but Moroccan press reported the break-up of a suspected IS cell consisting of nine people on Wednesday.

Independent Moroccan newspaper Akhbar al-Yaoum said that a total of nine suspects had been rounded up – according to the site, most of them are street peddlers aged between 20 and 30.

The men have now been transferred to a Casablanca jail, while further investigations are carried out.

Morocco has frequently reported the arrest of suspected militants and expressed deep concern about the number of its citizens fighting in Syria and Iraq, as well as those it suspects of returning to Morocco to prepare attacks at home.

In July, authorities announced that security had been boosted in the face of what they called a "serious threat."