Morocco arrests all-female Daesh cell
Cell was recruiting and training women in several parts of the country, including tourist hotshots
Rabat: Moroccan police have arrested 10 women who had allegedly pledged allegiance to Daesh and planned to carry out suicide bombings across the country, authorities said on Monday.
The all-female cell had “tried to obtain the chemicals used to make explosive belts” and were planning to attack “vital installations”, the interior ministry said.
The women had built “close relationships with several Moroccan terrorists also affiliated with Daesh (and) based on the Syrian-Iraqi border,” it said.
The cell was recruiting and training women in several parts of the country, including the tourist hot spot of Tangiers and towns close to the capital Rabat, the ministry said.
Rabat says more than 150 “terrorist cells” have been uncovered since 2002, including dozens in the past three years with ties to Daesh militants in Iraq and Syria.
A study by the US-based Soufan Group said last December that at least 1,200 Moroccans had travelled abroad to fight alongside Daesh in the previous 18 months.
