Security forces in Morocco have arrested 17 extremists on suspicion of belonging to a "terrorist structure" linked to al Qaeda, the state news agency MAP said on Sunday, quoting a police source.
Morocco has been on high alert since 2003 when suicide bombings killed 45 people in Casablanca, the country's financial capital.
"The 17 members involved in this project have been arrested and will face prosecution," the news agency said.
The police source said two Belgians of Moroccan origin, Khalid Azig and Mohamed R'ha, entered Morocco earlier this year to recruit members for the unnamed "terrorist structure" among Moroccans "permeated with extremist ideas".
MAP said that during their mission to Morocco, Azig and R'ha had recruited a number of people to their group.
The agency said two Moroccans who had been held by the United States at Guantanamo Bay, Brahim Benchekroun and Mohamed Mazouz, were among the recruits.
The police source told MAP the group, to which the 17 arrested extremists belonged, "has connections with small groups based on the border with Iraq and has close links with operatives of the al Qaeda."
Government officials were not immediately available to give further details.
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