Spanish and Moroccan authorities on Friday arrested seven suspected members of an al-Qaida-linked extremist cell allegedly recruiting members to fight in Syria and other hotspots.
Spain's Interior Minister Jorge Fernandez Diaz said the group leader, a Belgian-born Spaniard, and two French recruits were arrested in its North African coastal enclave of Melilla and another person, a Tunisian, in the southern resort city of Malaga.
A ministry statement said several of those arrested had spent time with groups related to al-Qaida and that the two French recruits were preparing to travel to Syria.
The Moroccan Interior Ministry said police arrested three others in the town of Laroui, not far from Melilla. It said the group leader had also previously lived in Laroui.
Spain said the group recruited members via the Internet for three al-Qaida groups for operations in Mali and Syria.
The leader had ties with a cell recruiting fighters for al-Qaida's North African branch fighting in northern Mali that was broken up in November 2012, and he also sent fighters to Libya and Syria and raised funds for extremist groups, the Moroccan statement added.
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