UPDATED ON:
Friday, April 20, 2007
16:01 Mecca time, 13:01 GMT
News Middle East
Morocco arrests terror suspect
Security forces patrol the area near the US cultural centre in Casablanca following a suicide attack [AFP] 

Moroccan police have arrested a man suspected of involvement in a string of suicide bombings that has rattled the north African country since March, the state news agency said.

 

Youssef Mousaod, was arrested on Thursday from his home in Casablanca and did not have explosives on him at the time of his arr

Previously, other members of the group cornered by police have blown themselves up to escape arrest, using homemade explosive belts they wore whenever going out in public.

Plot foiled

 

Police launched a manhunt to track down the group after the first explosion last month in a Casablanca internet cafe. The bomber, Abdelfattah Raydi, detonated his explosives after the cafe owner caught him surfing extremist websites.

 

Authorities say the crackdown derailed a plot to attack Casablanca's port and police stations, and tourist sites around Morocco.

 

Last week, police acting on a tip flushed four suspects out of a hideout in the Casablanca neighbuorhood of Hay al-Farah, shooting one dead and prompting the other three to blow themselves up. A policeman was killed in the blasts and 21 bystanders injured.

 

In other attacks on Saturday, bombers blew themselves up outside the US consulate and American language centre in Casablanca's city centre. One passer-by was injured.

 

Police said they had arrested the unidentified group's leader on the same day and uncovered bomb-making workshops.

 Source: Agencies
 
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