Morocco says it has arrested two IS jihadists

Rabat (AFP) - Morocco said on Friday it had arrested two Islamic State jihadists who had been planning to leave for IS training camps in Syria and Iraq to prepare attacks at home.

The two, whose identities were not disclosed, "planned to receive military training" before taking action in Morocco, "under the Islamic State's plans to expand its field of operations," an interior ministry statement said.

It did not say when or where police made the arrests, but added the detentions had led to the arrest of four more people in a crime network in the central city of Fez.

Morocco has announced the dismantling of around 20 "terrorist cells" in recent years, the most recent in mid-August, in cooperation with Spain.

The kingdom has expressed deep concern about the number of Moroccan jihadists currently fighting or in Syria and Iraq or who have fought there.

Last month, the authorities announced that security had been boosted in the face of what they called a "serious threat".

Local media published photographs of heavy weaponry deployed in strategic locations across the country.