RABAT, June 21 – Militant Islamist groups dedicated to Osama Bin Laden have spread out across Morocco, the independent daily newspaper Aujourd'hui le Maroc said Friday.

The militant cells have been "implanted just about everywhere across Morocco," the paper said

"Small groups whose sole reference is the Saudi billionaire are trying with all their might to recruit members from among the mass of the frustrated and underprivileged that never ceases to grow," it said.

The paper added that last month's arrest of three Saudi men suspected of belonging to bin Laden's al-Qaeda network was a "red alert" to the wide presence of Islamists at work here.

The three Saudi nationals were suspected of belonging to an al-Qaeda sleeper cell and alleged to have been preparing attacks against Morocco and on NATO ships in the Strait of Gibraltar, according to the interior ministry.

Analyzing the "Islamist cluster," the paper said that the best-known Islamic organizations – the main radical movement Al Adel Oua Al Ihssane and the more moderate Party of Justice and Development – were unrelated to more violent extremist groups.

The paper pointed to the fundamentalist movement Salafia Al jihad ia as the likely source of "small groups of fanatics whose sole reason for living and religious attachment is to spill the blood of others."

"The link between Salafia members and al-Qaeda networks is not difficult to show," it said, adding that the group, which "uses violence," was created after the Gulf War in 1991.

Several "Salafists" are currently on trial in Casablanca for having "lynched a drunkard," the paper added.

Aujourd'hui le Maroc published the names of men it believes to be local leaders of the Islamist groups: Mohamed Rafiki in Casablanca, Omar Hadduchi in Tetouan, Hassan Kettani in Rabat, and Mohamed ben Mohamed Al Fizazi in Tangiers. UN GULF WAR COMPENSATION BODY AWARDS 4.7 BILLION DOLLARS MAINLY TO KUWAIT

GENEVA, June 21 – The United Nations Compensation Commission (UNCC) on Friday said it had awarded 4.7 billion dollars (4.87 billion euros) in compensation for the 1990 Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, most of it to Kuwaiti companies and ministries.

UNCC spokesman Joe Sills said the figure was provisional, pending the examination later on Friday of a case involving a further 147-million-dollar award.

The Compensation Commission, made up of representatives from the 15 members of the UN Security Council, has so far awarded 42.6 billion dollars to people, companies or governments claiming damages as a result of the Iraq-Kuwait conflict.

Sills said about 4.5 billion dollars of Friday's awards responded to claims from Kuwaiti oil companies and the government against Iraq following the Gulf War.

But the UNCC turned down a large proportion of claims totalling 401 million dollars from Saudi oil companies.

Sills said only two out of the 11 Saudi companies were awarded 272 million dollars after the panel found that nine companies had subsequently benefitted from the conflict.

"Their profits were larger than the losses," Sills commented.

Iraqi troops were driven out of Kuwait in February 1991 by a US-led international coalition based in Saudi Arabia.

A quarter of the revenues earned by Iraq from oil exports under UN supervision is allocated to compensate Gulf War victims through the Commission. SUSPECTED TERRORIST TARGETED BELGIAN AIR BASE: REPORTS

BRUSSELS, June 21 – A Tunisian man with ties to Muslim extremists who was arrested nine months ago was planning an attack on a Belgian air base where US nuclear bombs may have been stored or against US troops guarding the facility, Belgian newspapers reported Friday.

Nizar Trabelsi, who is being held by authorities in Brussels, targeted the Kleine Brogel air base in the northeast Limbourg province, according to reports in the Flemish daily De Morgen published Thursday, and in the French language daily La Libre Belgique on Friday.

According to the reports, US soldiers at the base may be guarding about a dozen US B-61 nuclear bombs.

Belgian authorities have never confirmed the presence of US nuclear bombs at the air base, but experts say that around 12 bunkers capable of housing 12 nuclear bombs were built as part of Belgium's involvement in NATO.

The airbase was on a list of potential targets for Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network, De Morgen said.

Brussels prosecutors declined to comment on the reports.

Trabelsi was arrested on September 13, 2001 near Brussels on suspicion of plotting an attack against the US embassy in Paris.

He has been charged with criminal conspiracy and attempt to destroy buildings with the aid of explosives.

He had a list of chemical bomb-making products on him when he was arrested, and some of the products, including sulphur and acetone, were found in a Brussels restaurant owned by two people close to him, the paper said.

La Libre Belgique said Trabelsi had admitted that his main target was the air base but that the link with al-Qaeda was far from established.

The newspaper said Trabelsi had confessed to having ties to members of Takfir wa Hijra, an Afghan Islamist group that is distinct from bin Laden's network. GERMANY AND TUNISIA TO BOOST ANTI-TERROR COOPERATION

BERLIN, June 19 – Germany and Tunisia plan to step up cooperation in the fight against international terrorism following a blast on the Tunisian island of Djerba in April that killed 14 German tourists, their interior ministers said on Wednesday.

During talks in Berlin, German Interior Minister Otto Schily and his Tunisian counterpart Hedi M'henni discussed creating a working group to improve the exchange of security information between the two countries.

The group will also prepare an agreement under which their police and security forces can cooperate further, a German interior ministry spokesman said.

Nineteen people were killed, 14 of them German holiday-makers, when a fuel truck exploded outside a synogogue on the resort island of Djerba on April 11 in what investigators said was an attack carried out by the driver.

Tunisian tourism operators also handed over a cheque for one million euros (950,000 dollars) for victims of the Djerba blast, in which 17 people were also badly wounded.

M'henni became interior minister on April 27 after his predecessor was sacked over blast.

An Arab born to Palestinian parents in Israel has begun his duties as moderator of the 2.5-million-member U.S. Presbyterian Church, one of the largest Protestant churches in America.

The Rev. Dr. Fahed Abu-Akel, 58, a naturalized American of Atlanta, Georgia, was elected presiding officer of the world's largest Presbyterian denomination in the opening session of the church's 214th annual General Assembly. IRAQI DIPLOMAT TO BE EXPELLED FOR ALLEGED SPYING

United Nations – The U.S. State Department has ordered the expulsion of a diplomat at Iraq's U.N. mission on suspicion of spying on the United States. Abdul Rahman Saad was first secretary at the mission, and attended meetings on economic and social affairs at the U.N. The reason for his expulsion is cited as "activities incompatible with his diplomatic status." KURDS WANT U.S. GUARANTEES BEFORE COOPERATING

Washington – Iraqi-Kurdish groups have told U.S. officials that they would not cooperate with an American military attack from northern Iraq with the aim of toppling President Saddam Hussein, without guarantees that Washington will remain in the area indefinitely to protect the Kurds. They cited the 1995 Iraqi military offensive in Kurdistan, which prompted a flight by CIA operatives and their Kurdish allies. SAUDIS TO BAN NEW CELL PHONE

Abu Dhabi – Saudi Arabia is being urged to ban a new cellular phone that can be used to take digital photographs because Saudi men are thought to be using the new phone to surreptitiously photograph women. Officials said Saudi women had complained that young Saudi men were slipping the cellular phones into facilities reserved for women and secretly taking photographs. BRITAIN STILL SUPPLIES ARMS TO ISRAEL

London – Despite a suspension of defense relations by other European states, Britain appears to have increased the supply of weapons, components, and training to Israel. British ministers said the government continues to grant export licenses for British military products and components to Israel, adding that 18 licenses were approved recently, including during the period of Israel's military offensive in the West Bank. U.S. TROOPS IN BAHRAIN MAINTAIN LOW PROFILE

Abu Dhabi – U.S. troops have been ordered to maintain a low profile in Bahrain amid rising anti-American sentiment in the kingdom. "Military personnel is being urged not to wander through the markets or isolated areas, particularly alone," a Gulf source said. "They are also being asked to stay away from places where there are large crowds, such as mosques and soccer stadiums." DRUG SMUGGLING INTO IRAN UP 140 PERCENT SINCE MAY

Tehran – The amount of drugs smuggled into Iran from Afghanistan and Pakistan has shot up 140 percent since May, the deputy chief of police said. He added that drug trafficking had been on the decline under the Taliban rule of Afghanistan, from 1996 up until late 2001. Most drugs trafficked through Iran are grown in Afghanistan or Pakistan. LIBYAN GIFT OF MERCEDES EMBARRASSES SOUTH AFRICA

Johannesburg – A gift of a fancy Mercedes-Benz on the occasion of a visit by South African President Thabo Mbeki to Libya last week threw his delegation into a diplomatic tizzy. Mbeki was "truly embarrassed" by the gift, presented by Libyan leader Moammar Qadhafi, a South African official said. A presidency spokesman said the vehicle would be "declared as is everything else the president receives." ISRAEL SHOWS OFF NEW SPY SATELLITE

Jerusalem – Israel showed off the capabilities of its new Ofek 5 spy satellite by presenting outgoing army chief General Shaul Mofaz with high-resolution pictures of the neighborhood where he was brought up in Tehran. Israeli military radio said the images of the Iranian capital proved the satellite is equipped with cameras, which are "among the best in the world." SUDAN GOVERNMENT, REBELS KICK OFF PEACE TALKS

Nairobi – The government of Sudan and the southern rebel group that have been fighting in Africa's longest civil war have began five weeks of talks aimed at resolving key issues blocking the road to peace. But although leaders of both delegations said they came to the talks with an "open mind," the rebels showed little signs of heeding international calls for a ceasefire. MARWAN BARGHOUTHI'S DETENTION EXTENDED

Petah Tiqvah, Israel – An Israeli military court extended West Bank Fatah leader Marwan Barghouthi's detention for another 22 days, after arresting him in mid-April. Barghouthi, whom Israel accuses of heading the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an armed offshoot of YASSER ARAFAT'S Fatah movement, had been kept in a cell measuring less than two square meters and subjected to sleep deprivation, according to his lawyers. MILLIONTH MINE CLEARED IN AFGHANISTAN

Kabul – British mine-clearing group, HALO Trust, chose Afghanistan to mark the clearance of its millionth mine. The Hazardous Areas Life-Support Organization (HALO), has de-mining operations in Georgia, Eritrea, Angola, Mozambique, Cambodia and other places. "Most of the million mines and unexploded ordnance cleared by HALO worldwide have been destroyed here in Afghanistan," HALO said. RAN SEIZES TON OF DRUGS IN SHOOTOUT

Tehran – Iranian police seized more than a ton of drugs and arrested two smugglers after a shootout in the mountains of the southern province of Kerman. "Police confiscated some 910 kg of hashish, 180 kg of opium, one vehicle, some arms and ammunition," a local police spokesman said. Tehran has seized 180 tons of opium, accounting for 85 percent of total worldwide seizures. PALESTINIAN INTELLECTUALS DECRY ATTACKS IN ISRAEL

Gaza – Palestinian intellectuals urged that Palestinian militants halt attacks on civilians inside Israel, saying in a full-page advertisement that they hindered Palestinian aspirations to independence. "We see that these attacks do not achieve progress towards achieving our...freedom and independence," said the 55-member group, who included Palestinian commissioner for Jerusalem Sari Nusseibeh and former Palestinian cabinet member Hanan Ashrawi.