Morocco said Monday it had arrested a Belgian man of Moroccan descent who it said was directly linked with some of those behind the "jihadist" attacks in Paris in November.

Morocco said Monday it had arrested a Belgian man of Moroccan descent who it said was directly linked with some of those behind the "jihadist" attacks in Paris in November.

The interior ministry said in a statement that the suspect, arrested on Friday in the town of Al-Muhammadiyah near Casablanca, had "direct links with some" of the Paris attackers and had travelled to Syria where he joined the ISIL group.