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Morocco: Police nabs Morocco’s worst suicide bombing ‘crminals’ Fri. June 06, 2008 09:08 am.- By Bonny Apunyu. -
(SomaliNet) Two months after they tunnelled out of a top-security prison two radical Islamists accused of links to Morocco’s worst suicide bombings were nabbed by Moroccan police, the government said on Thursday.
After being found guilty of involvement in the attacks in Casablanca in May 2003 that targeted Western and Jewish interests and killed 45 people, Hammou Hassani is under a death sentence. Abdellah Boughmir, jailed on similar charges, was serving life.
State news agency MAP said the two were arrested on the outskirts of the northern Moroccan city of Fez.
According to media and security experts, nine Islamists fled Kenitra prison, 40 kilometres north-east of the capital Rabat, in the early hours of April 7 through a tunnel over 20 metres long that came up in the grounds of the prison director's house.
Analysts said such serious breaches were rare and the men could pose a serious threat to the country's security. One was arrested in May but the remaining six are still on the run.
Two of the men were on death row, four faced life in prison and the rest were serving 20-year jail terms.
In a letter left stuck to the wall of their cell, the escapees denied any role in bombings and said they were victims of injustice.
Staunch US ally Morocco and neighbouring Maghreb countries have been on alert for attacks since Al Qaeda's north African wing stepped up suicide bombings and other attacks last year.
Some 1 000 Islamists are in Moroccan jails on terrorism-related charges. Hundreds have staged protests in recent months, complaining of mistreatment and harsh conditions.
An Islamist advocacy group said this week that 18 prisoners were in a serious condition after a lengthy hunger strike.-Reuters
News Category: Africa
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