LONDON — Morocco's military has a plan to stop infiltration by
sympathizers of Al Qaida.
On Aug. 31, the kingdom ended compulsory military service. The sources
said the move was meant to halt the flow of Islamists who had sought to
obtain military training for insurgency operations.
In August, Morocco arrested 59 people and seized more than 30 kilograms
of TNT as part of an Al Qaida plot that included the military, Middle East Newsline reported. The targets
were said to have included the Moroccan Air Force base in Sale as well as
the U.S. embassy in Rabat.
Since then, Morocco has begun reshuffling its intelligence chiefs. On
Sept. 15, Moroccan King Mohammed appointed Sharqi Idris director-general of
the National Security Agency.
Government sources said the military has imposed measures to increase
monitoring of suspected Islamists. They said the effort was launched in 2006
amid the detection of creeping Islamization in the army.
The military has also imposed restrictions concerning religious
ceremonies. The sources said officers and soldiers have been banned from
entering mosques in uniform, particularly for Friday prayers.
Over the last few years, the Moroccan Army has witnessed an increase in
Islamist officers. The Islamist trend was said to have been detected in
meetings between Moroccan and Western militaries.
Idris replaced Gen. Hamidou Lanikri, appointed inspector-general of
support forces in the Interior Ministry. Idris would become the third chief
of the domestic intelligence agency since 2000.
