Via Al Jazeera -
Morocco has raised its security alert level to "maximum" as the government prepares for what it says is an imminent terrorist attack.
The move follows a meeting of chiefs of police and intelligence and paramilitary officials in the capital Rabat on Saturday.
It also comes after recent visits to Morocco by US and European security officials who underscored the role the North African kingdom was playing in the so-called "war on terror", analysts and diplomats said.
"This alert level indicates a serious threat of terrorist action and requires the extreme mobilisation of the security organs," the interior ministry said.
It cited "reliable intelligence information" but gave no details about any specific attack threat.
Morocco has been on alert since suicide bombings in March and April this year when five people killed themselves and a police officer.
Four years ago, 45 people died in a suicide attack in Casablanca.
"It is the first time Moroccan authorities have used clear language and precise words about the terrorist threat," Miloud Belkadi, a political analyst, said.
Belkadi said he believed that Western security officials, including Robert Mueller, the head of the FBI, might have passed details to Morocco about an imminent attack during their recent trips."
These visits and the language of al-Qaeda's Zawahri were indicating something serious may happen soon here," he said.
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