(US News) Thomas Omestad - Morocco seems to be producing terrorists who seek to wreak havoc across Europe. The Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group, a network linked to al-Qaeda, is thought responsible for the bombings in Casablanca on May 16, 2003, and at Madrid's Atocha Station on March 11, 2004. Spain's leading antiterrorism judge, Baltasar Garzon, has declared the Morocco connection "the gravest problem Europe faces today with this kind of terrorism." As many as 1,000 al-Qaeda followers and 100 terrorist cells may have burrowed into Morocco, Garzon estimates. The Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group is an operational offshoot of Salafia Jihadia, whose Moroccan branch was established in the mid-1990s, fueled by radical Islamist ideas and by money and manpower from Saudi Arabia and other Persian Gulf nations.
2005-05-03 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive