Oridance production in Morocco

Telegraph:

Their destination may be almost 3,000 miles away, but the draw of martyrdom in Iraq is proving irresistable for the young men of Tetouan.

American intelligence officials believe that the Moroccan town, less than 30 miles from the Spanish enclave of Ceuta, has become one of the world's most fertile recruiting ground for jihadists.

In the last eight months a group of young men, all worshippers at the same mosque, have left their homes to become suicide bombers in Iraq.

After DNA tests on their bodies, and Moroccan authorities asking families to provide samples, US intelligence traced at least nine of those responsible for recent suicide missions in and around Baghdad to Tetouan and its surrounding area in the foothills of the Rif Mountains.

Local reports suggest that another 21 individuals have left the area to seek martyrdom, following in the footsteps of five other Tetouanis who blew themselves up in a Madrid suburb when cornered by police, who believed they played a part in the train bombings in the Spanish capital in March 2004.

The families of the young men, all in their twenties, tell the same stories – of sons, brothers, husbands who became disillusioned with the daily struggle to earn.

Early each morning Abdelmonem Amakchar El Amrani, 21, would leave the home that he shared with his wife and infant daughter to travel 30 miles to work as a porter hauling merchandise across the border between Morocco and Ceuta. On a good day he could make four or five trips, earning around £3 a time.

When he arrived home exhausted each evening he would talk of his dream of making the short journey across the Mediterranean to Spain, where he would build a life for himself before sending for his family.

Earlier this year he began spending more time at the mosque, grew a beard and one day disappeared.

The first the family learnt of his fate was when police informed them that on March 6 he had driven a car bomb into a funeral procession, killing six and wounding 27 in the Iraqi city of Bakuba, 35 miles northwest of Baghdad.

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This graphic shows the houses of the men who became ordinance in Iraq. For them it was a one way ticket. Morocco would be wise to check all young men who are buying one tickets, probably to Damascus. Syria could stop all these young men when they step off the plane if it wanted to. This story runs counter to the theory of Iraq as a training ground. Instead it is a place for Muslim men to explode and kill other Muslims.