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Africa
Men jailed for Morocco terror plot
Eight men get sentences of up to 15 years amid fears of renewed al-Qaeda activity.
Last Modified: 02 Mar 2007 18:19 GMT
The defendants were sentenced to between two
and fifteen years for the bomb plot [AFP]

A Moroccan court has convicted eight men for plotting terrorist attacks and jailed them for up to 15 years, lawyers said on Friday.

 

The criminal court in Sale, near Rabat, sentenced the men, including a Tunisian national named

It was the latest in a series of trials of Islamist cells broken up by Moroccan police, and comes amid increased fears of an al-Qaeda attack in the North African country.

 

Authorities say they have broken up more than 80 Islamist cells and arrested more than 3,000 people since 2003.

Many of those arrested were put on trial while others were released after questioning.

 

Morocco has been on high security alert since 2003 when suicide bombings killed 45 people in Casablanca, the country's commercial capital.

 

Last month, the government raised the security alert after authorities received intelligence about a possible al-Qaeda attack, according to security sources.

Source:
Agencies
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