NEW DELHI: India and its key partner in North Africa, Morocco, have collaborated to prevent further terror strikes in Sri Lankaafter the Sunday Easter bombings in what can be described as a major success in counter-terror operations in the subcontinent in recent times.
Morocco, which maintains a substantial information bank on ISIS and its network provided leads to Sri Lanka in collaboration with India that led to an operation in Colombo to eliminate terrorists who were planning second round of attacks after Easter Sunday bombings, ET has learnt.
Besides additional information was provided by Morocco to Sri Lanka that helped to preempt other terror attacks that ISIS was planning to orchestrate, according to persons familiar with the developments.
Earlier within hours of the attack Morocco had shared intelligence with Delhi and Colombo to identify nine suicide bombers responsible for Eastern Sunday bombings.
Morocco has wide-ranging and effective counter partnerships with leading countries including USA, France, Spain and India among other countries and signed three counter-terror pacts with Delhi since last year. In February, Rabat and Delhi during Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj visit signed a memorandum of understanding to fight terrorism.
In fact Morocco that follows a moderate school of Islam, has one of the successful records of counter-terrorism and de-radicalization. Last year Abdelhak Khiame, Head of Morocco’s Central Bureau of Legal Investigation (BCIJ), said Moroccan security services dismantled “183 terrorist cells” in the country that were in the various stages of planning “361 devastating terrorist projects”. More than 3,000 people, including 292 individuals with previous criminal record, have been arrested by Moroccan authorities over the past decade.
Morocco over the year has adopted three major national counterterrorism measures, officials told ET. The first was a ‘home affairs’ approach to security. In October 2014, the Ministry of the Interior launched Operation Hadar (Arabic for ‘vigilance’), requiring the security forces to work together to combat terrorism. This resulted in enhanced security at airports, train stations and border posts.
Global News 
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