Moroccan authorities have dismantled a 12-member militant cell planning attacks on national and international targets, the country’s counterterrorism agency announced on Monday. The group, loyal to Islamic State (IS) in the Sahel, was intercepted in a coordinated operation across nine cities, underscoring the growing threat posed by jihadist networks expanding in Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger.
According to Habboub Cherkaoui, head of the Central Bureau of Judicial Investigations (BCIJ), the suspects—aged 18 to 40—had been radicalized online and were acting under the orders of a Libyan-based IS leader. Most of them held “occasional jobs,” he added.
Operating under the name “Lions of the Caliphate in the Maghreb Al Aqsa (Morocco),” the group was preparing remote-controlled bomb attacks. Authorities seized explosive materials, firearms, and ammunition, including automatic rifles and handguns, in the southeastern region of Errachidia near the Algerian border. The weapons, reportedly smuggled in under IS leadership, highlight the links between terrorist groups and criminal networks, Cherkaoui warned.
The BCIJ chief also noted that IS branches in Africa have recruited over 130 Moroccan fighters in recent years, raising concerns over the internationalization of extremist activities. Since its formation in 2015, the agency has dismantled dozens of militant cells and arrested more than 1,000 suspected jihadists.
Morocco’s last known jihadist attack occurred in 2023 when IS-linked assailants killed a policeman in Casablanca.
