CAIRO Ñ Morocco has launched a new crackdown on suspected Islamic
insurgents that includes closing illegal mosques.
The crackdown is said to be the start of implementation of a new plan
meant to reduce Islamic unrest in the kingdom. The plan increases security
forces around Rabat and regards Islamic unrest as a threat to national
security that requires a comprehensive approach to monitoring and
supervising Islamic movements and clerics.
Over the weekend, Moroccan authorities arrested 20 suspected Islamic
insurgents. The insurgents were said to have come from the Salafist Jihad
group.
Moroccan officials said the plan has been drafted and overseen by Gen.
Hamidu Anikri, chief of Moroccan domestic intelligence. Anikri has relayed
the plan as well as recommendations to governorates throughout the kingdom
on how to deal with Islamic groups and mosques.
The plan includes the establishment of 50 security centers around Rabat.
Rabat is Morocco's capital and has a population of 3.5 million.
Islamic sources said that so far more than 1,000 Islamic activists have
been arrested over the past few weeks. They include the arrest over the last
few days of 27 suspected members of the Salafist Jihad group.
In addition, about 30 mosques have been shut down, the sources said.
The crackdown by the kingdom came amid the arrest of at least two Al
Qaida cells in May. The insurgents linked to Osama Bin Laden were accused of
planning to launch suicide bombings in Morocco as well as attack NATO ships
in the western Mediterranean.
Moroccan security sources have acknowledged the arrests but said the
number of mosques shut down has been exaggerated. The sources said four
mosques were closed after they were found to have been used by Islamic
insurgents to preach violence against the kingdom.
The sources said the mosques were also deemed as illegal and located in
buildings that were not suitable for a large number of congregants. But they
said Moroccan authorities have become stricter in their monitoring of
mosques
to ensure that they don't recruit for Islamic insurgency groups.
One measure that has been ordered by the new security plan is for the
halt of all trade in all of Morocco's 24,000 mosques. Security sources said
the measure is meant to stop the sale of books and video tapes that
encourage unrest and insurgency. They said the measure has already been
implemented in Casablanca.
