Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group
| Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group | |
|---|---|
| Participant in the Global War on Terrorism | |
| Active | 1990s–present |
| Ideology | Salafi jihadism |
| Area of operations | Morocco, Western Europe, Afghanistan, Iraq, Canada, Brazil |
| Allies | |
| Opponents | |
The Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group, known by the French acronym GICM (Groupe Islamique Combattant Marocain), is a Salafi jihadist terrorist organisation affiliated with al-Qaeda. The GICM is one of several North African terrorist franchises spawned in Afghanistan during the tenure of the Taliban. The organisation and its associated members have been linked to major terrorist attacks including the 2003 Casablanca bombings that killed 33 people and wounded more than 100, and the 2004 Madrid train bombings that killed 191 people and wounded over 2,000. A crackdown against the organisation's numerous cells in Europe is thought to have since significantly damaged the GICM's capabilities.
The GICM was founded in the 1990s by Moroccan recruits from al-Qaeda training camps in Afghanistan and former Mujahideen veterans from the Soviet–Afghan War. Formed as a splinter group of the Harakat al-Islamiya al-Maghrebiya al-Mukatila (HASM) and Shabiba al-Islamiya groups, the GICM's stated goal was to establish an Islamic state in Morocco. The group gained its finances from criminal activities such as robberies, extortions, document forgery, illegal drug trade and arms trafficking through North Africa and Europe. One early cell affiliated with the group was responsible for killing two Spanish tourists at the Atlas Asni Hotel in Marrakesh in August 1994. The ideological leader of the group was Ahmed Rafiki (a.k.a. Abou Hodeifa), who was responsible for organising Moroccan fighters in Afghanistan.
Along with other al-Qaeda affiliates, GICM was banned worldwide by the UN 1267 Committee in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks in 2001. The group was later linked to several terrorist attacks. In 2003 twelve suicide bombers from the associated group Salafia Jihadia were responsible for coordinated suicide bombings in Casablanca that killed 33 people. At least eight of the people convicted after the bombings were accused of being members of the GICM. Nourredine Nafia, an important early leader of the group was sentenced to 20 years in prison, and Saad Houssaini, the group's suspected military committee chief (arrested in 2007) was sentenced to 15 years.
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