Morocco Arrests Three 'IS-Linked Jihadists'

Morocco on Friday dismantled a "terrorist cell" composed of three men who had received instructions from the Islamic State group to carry out attacks in the country, the interior ministry said.

The suspects were detained in the northeastern town of Nador and had been ordered to set up an IS branch aimed at "preparing a series of suicide attacks... against vital targets," a statement said.

The members of the cell are being investigated and will be referred to trial, it added.

In March, the interior ministry said that the alleged members of a jihadist cell it had arrested the previous month, including a French national, were plotting to carry out "biological" attacks in the kingdom.

Rabat says 152 "terrorist cells" have been busted since 2002, including 31 over the past three years with ties to jihadists in Iraq and Syria.

A study by the U.S.-based Soufan Group said in December that at least 1,200 Moroccans had traveled to fight alongside IS in Iraq and Syria in the previous 18 months.