Updated

Morocco's Interior Ministry says it has arrested three people and dismantled a cell linked to the Islamic State group that was plotting a "dangerous terrorist project" in the North African kingdom.

A ministry statement, released Wednesday via state news agency MAP, said the arrests were made Friday in the northern cities of Mdiq and Tangiers. It didn't identify those arrested.

The report said the network's chief was linked to an IS leader who wanted to target security establishments, tourist sites and foreigners from countries participating in the U.S.-led coalition fighting IS. It said the cell wanted to unleash a series of "destructive operations" to destabilize Morocco.

Abdelhak Khiame, director of Morocco's Central Bureau of Judicial Investigations, told the AP that about 30 IS-affiliated terror cells have been dismantled this year.