Salafia Jihadia
| Salafia Jihadia | |
|---|---|
| Participant in the Insurgency in the Maghreb (2002–present) and 2011–12 Moroccan protests | |
| Active | 1990s–present |
| Ideology | Salafi jihadism |
| Area of operations |
Morocco Spain |
| Strength | 400+ (2002) |
| Allies | |
| Opponents | |
Salafia Jihadia (Arabic: السلفية الجهادية al-Salafiya al-jihadiya) is a Salafi jihadist militant group based in Morocco and Spain with links to al-Qaeda. The group is associated with the Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group (GICM), and in addition to a series of religiously sanctioned extrajudicial killings, it was notably responsible for the 2003 Casablanca bombings, in which twelve suicide bombers killed 33 people and injured over 100. Salafia Jihadia has variously been described as a movement or loose network of groups, or as a generic term applied by Moroccan authorities for militant Salafi activists.
Salafia Jihadia was formed in the early 1990s by Mujahideen veterans of the Soviet–Afghan War. The group was formed in opposition to the Arab states, including Morocco, that had joined the coalition against Iraq in the Gulf War. Along with the Takfir wal-Hijra group, Salafia Jihadia was eventually responsible for around 300 murders in Morocco as punishment for "non-Islamic behaviour." The group has been associated with the Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group (GICM). It also had links to the former Algerian Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC) and the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG). By 2002 the group had begun establishing ties with al-Qaeda, and had 400 known members.
In 2002 members of the group were among those arrested as part of an al-Qaeda plot to attack Western shipping in the Strait of Gibraltar with a speedboat manned by suicide bombers. In July 2003, in a trial unrelated to the Casablanca bombings, ten members of the group were sentenced to death, and eight others to life imprisonment. In February 2004, two cells in Fez and Meknes were dismantled, with 37 people arrested after explosives and weapons were discovered during raids. A Salafia Jihadia network operating in several Moroccan towns, including Mohammedia near Casablanca was unravelled by security forces in March 2005. In December 2006, Spanish authorities announced that a cell of eleven people, ten Spanish citizens and one Moroccan associated with Salafia Jihadia had been dismantled. According to Spanish anti-terrorism judge Baltasar Garzón, members of jihadist cells in northern Morocco speak Spanish fluently and can easily slip in and out of Spain due to the short distance.
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Wikipedia