According to political analyst Dr. Mohamed Chtatou, a Professor at the University of Mohammed V in Rabat, in the face of the volatile situation between Hamas and Israel, western intelligence has informed Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia of possible 9/11 style Kamikaze attacks using Airbus passenger aircraft that have fallen into the hands of Libyan Islamists during recent fighting. The Libyan Islamist militias might not use them themselves, but they might be tempted to sell them to al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQMI) who have many issues to square with North African governments, which they consider kafir – staunch allies of the Christian West and arch enemies of Islam. Acting on this information, the governments of North Africa are readying themselves militarily for the worst.
To the alarm of many Moroccans, minister of the interior Mohamed Hassad made mention of these terrorist threats in parliament last month. In the last few days, the Moroccan army have deployed radar, air missiles and other military hardware in many parts of the country and put the air force and the navy on maximum alert alongside other security forces to foil any possible terrorist air attack. In the event of any security threat detected by military or civilian radar, the air force will immediately scramble its military jets, initially to persuade the incoming aircraft to turn back, according to the international protocol in use in such situations. If the aircraft ignores the orders, the fighter jets will fire warning shots and, if there is no compliance, fire their missiles and down the airliner. If for some reason this fails, navy missiles will be fired in the direction of the encroaching aircraft. If all else fails, a ground air defence system is activated as a last resort.
