Morocco breaks up militant cell

RABAT (Reuters) - Morocco said it had arrested a cell of militants, including a member of Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), who were planning to launch attacks on security services and stage bank robberies with a large cache of weapons. Quoting an interior ministry statement, official media reported on Wednesday that Moroccan security forces had broken up a 27-member cell and seized arms that were discovered in Amghala, an oasis in the disputed Western Sahara. Moroccan security services have succeeded in dismantling a terrorist cell of 27 members, among whom is a member of Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb who was tasked by this organization to set up a rear base in Morocco where it would plan terrorist acts, the statement said. Members of the cell, supervised by a Moroccan citizen who is in Qaeda camps in Mali, have been planning terrorist acts using explosive belts and car bombs that mainly target security services and to rob banks to fund their terrorist projects, it added.

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