Cherkaoui said the operation revealed that Islamic State in the Sahel Sahel aimed to expand and establish operations in Morocco or recruit Moroccans to fight abroad, including most recently in Somalia.
Moroccan authorities this month arrested a dozen people they said were planning attacks on behalf of the Islamic State in the Sahel, a region south of the Sahara Desert, officials said Monday.
More than a year of tracking done by Morocco’s General Directorate for Territorial Surveillance showed Islamic State in the Sahel commanders worked to recruit, arm and direct sympathizers to carry out attacks in Morocco.
“Morocco remains a major target in the agenda of all terrorist organizations operating in the Sahel,” Habboub Cherkaoui, the head of Morocco’s Central Bureau of Judicial Investigations, said at a news conference.
Morocco has worked to present itself as a regional leader in combatting violent extremism, forging deeper ties with new governments throughout the Sahel, including Mali, with which signed a joint military cooperation agreement last month.
