RABAT - A British man held in Morocco in connection with the May suicide blasts in Casablanca that killed 44 people, belonged to a cell of a banned Islamic extremist group and had fought Russian forces in Chechnya, a press report said here Friday.
The Al Ahdath Al Maghribia daily gave his name as Stewart Berri Anthony, 37, and said he was a convert to Islam arrested on July 25 in connection with an inquiry into the banned Salafia Jihadia group.
Salafia Jihadia is accused of carrying out the May suicide bombings in the north African country's economic hub, and several of its suspected members are on trial in connection with the bombings.
Nineteen of them appeared in court in Casablanca on Friday in the latest hearing of trials of those suspected of involvement in the attacks.
Also Friday, a court in the northern city of Fez delivered jail sentences to Salafia Jihadia members ranging from three months to 30 years for "distributing tracts inciting violence, forming a criminal gang, abduction" and other crimes.
Also known as Mohamed and Abou Yassine, Anthony joined the Fez cell of Salafia Jihadia at the request of two of its leaders, including a French national who has been charged in connection with the attacks, the report said.
It added that the Briton, from the city of Birmingham in central England, was being held in Ain Qadous prison in Fez.
Anthony, who converted to Islam in 1994, was encouraged to travel to Morocco and marry a local woman by a Moroccan Islamic extremist he had met in Saudi Arabia, according to Al Ahdath Al Maghribia.
The paper said he had married one Moroccan in Casablanca and a second in Fez.
The report claimed Anthony had also travelled to the breakaway Russian republic of Chechnya to fight Russian forces there and had visited Afghanistan.
Britain's Foreign Office on Thursday said a British man was being held in Morocco in connection with the blasts in Casablanca, but refused to name him or provide further details.
The Foreign Office said it was informed Tuesday of the arrests of two British men in Morocco, after making inquiries on behalf of the suspects' respective families, who reported their disappearances in mid-June.
A spokeswoman refused to confirm if the second man is suspected of terrorism.
After the five synchronised bombings in May on Western and Jewish targets that killed 44 people, including 12 suicide bombers, investigators raided Islamic militant strongholds across the north African country.
There were arrests in Casablanca, Fez and Tangiers by police who suspected at least two Moroccan Islamic groups to have been behind the blasts.
The bombs tore through a Spanish restaurant, the Belgian consulate, a Jewish community centre and cemetery and a hotel.
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