Jihadist planning Seville attack arrested in Morocco, Spain’s interior ministry says

Police have arrested a man in Morocco who is suspected of preparing an attack in Seville, the southern Spanish city known for its Easter processions, Spain’s interior ministry said on Wednesday, April 17.

The intelligence and police services of the two countries conducted an anti-terrorist operation that ended in “the arrest in Morocco of a jihadist who was allegedly planning an attack in Seville,” the ministry said in a statement.

Citing unnamed interior ministry sources, El Pais reported that the arrest took place several days ago.

Contacted by AFP, the ministry refused to say whether the suspect intended to carry out the attack this week, during the world-famous Holy Week processions that attract hundreds of thousands of visitors.

Spanish police were on Wednesday afternoon searching his home in Seville.

Spain is on level-four terror alert out of a maximum of five.

The country has twice been struck by major jihadist attacks. In March 2004, bombs exploded in Madrid commuter trains, killing 191 people in an attack claimed by al-Qaeda-inspired extremists that remains Europe’s deadliest. In August 2017, a double attack left 16 dead in Barcelona and the seaside resort of Cambrils.

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With reporting from AFP