Allegations Leveled Against Terrorist Network are True, Rabat Says

The allegations leveled against the Belliraj terrorist ring, which was dismantled on 18 February, are “neither fallacious nor fabricated,” Moroccan Home Affairs minister Chakib Benmoussa said.

Speaking at a meeting of the Home Affairs Commission at the second Parliament house (House of Councilors) Tuesday afternoon, Benmoussa said the facts blamed on the 35 people arrested in connection with the network “are neither fabricated for fallacious as some have claimed”.

“The substantiated facts are premeditated action by the people involved and the dismantling of the network is legitimate,” they said.

He said the affair is “extremely serious” and requires the “general mobilization” of all the societal components to ensure the country’s stability.

Certain Moroccan newspapers have challenged the “reliability of the facts” set forth in the affair involving Islamist party leaders and several cadres as well as the correspondent of a Lebanese television channel Al Manar belonging to the Shiite party Hezbollah.

Rabat announced that the network, which had build links with international terrorist rings including Al Qaida, was planning to assassinate political and military officials as well as Moroccan Jews using firearms and explosive devices.

Moroccan authorities recalled the ring staged a series of attacks in Europe in the 1992-2002 period, and planned assassinations between 1992-2005.

Reacting to the affair, King Mohamed VI said Tuesday that these conspiracies are “many desperate attempts to undermine the Moroccan original model, which is exceptional due to its religious and spiritual features”.

“Morocco is targeted through its national character that is based on…the virtues of moderation, tolerance and openness, while rejecting extremism and ostracism, violence and obscurantism,” the Moroccan monarch said in a message to the country’s security services.

Morocco has staged many raids, bursting about fifty terrorist plots in the Kingdom since the Casablanca blasts that killed 45 people including 12 suicide bombers on 16 May 2003.

Source African Press Agency

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