Rabat, 19 Feb. (AKI) - Moroccan security services late on Monday dismantled what they described as an "important" jihadist terror cell operating in North Africa, the Moroccan news agency MAP reported.

The cell's fugitive head was among 23 people arrested in the swoop. Members of the alleged cell were planning to carry out terrorist acts, MAP said. They included several politicians, according to the Moroccan website Hespress.

MAP named the cell's arrested head as Abdel Qader Belaraj. He was reported to have previously escaped after an earlier arrest.

Investigators also uncovered connections between members of the alleged cell and armed groups operating abroad, according to MAP.

Mustafa al-Mutasim, secretary general of the Party for Civil Change, and the For the Nation party chief, Muhammad Marwani, were among members of the alleged cell, according to Hespress.

The Moroccan authorities had barred the For the Nation party from running in the parliamentary elections last September.