Morocco arrests Belgian national directly linked to Paris attackers

Morocco says it has arrested a Belgian national linked to the men who carried out the Paris attacks. Morocco's Interior Ministry said that the man had a "direct relationship" with the attackers who carried out the Paris attacks which left 130 people dead and 352 others injured on November 13, last year.

The man was arrested near Casablanca, after traveling through Turkey, Germany, the Netherlands, and Belgium. 

The ministry gave only the militant's initial in Arabic, media reported. 

It did, however, state that the man had fought in Syria with al-Nusra Front before joining Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL). 

Several of the Paris attackers were of Moroccan origin. It comes just one week after France's BFM TV released CCTV images showing Paris attacks suspect Salah Abdeslam and his friend Hamza Attou. The pictures were taken at a petrol station on the Belgium border just one day after the attacks.

Earlier this month, police found traces of explosives, handmade belts, and the fingerprint of Abdeslam during a raid on a Brussels apartment. 

The findings added to speculation that the attacks were at least partly planned in Belgium.