Word: oufkir
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TIME has learned that Ben Barka was indeed killed by three high Moroccan officials in an act of loyalty to King Hassan; one of them was former Interior Minister Mohammed Oufkir, who died in 1972; the other two were Moroccan agents, one of whom still holds an important position in the Rabat government; the other is reportedly still a Moroccan intelligence official. According to one of TIME'S sources, Ben Barka's body was interred in the garden of a villa at Fontenay-le-Vicomte, a Paris suburb; 16 days later, for fear that inquisitive French police might...
...Mossad. Although Morocco later supported Arab confrontation states in the Middle East wars, it had excellent relations with Israel after it became independent in 1956. For example, Morocco arranged, through the French, to have Mossad train its own fledgling secret service. Mossad's chief Moroccan contact was Oufkir. At one point after the Moroccans had decided to get rid of Ben Barka, Oufkir asked Mossad to obtain some poison for him. The agency declined, but later agreed to help tail Ben Barka, who was then living in Geneva...
Even though Ben Barka moved from Algeria to Geneva, he was still considered a threat by Hassan. "This man disturbs me," the King frequently said of Ben Barka. As chief of national security, Interior Minister Oufkir launched "Operation Ben Barka"-at first to keep track of the leftist dissident, but then to murder him. Working with French intelligence agents, Oufkir was able to lure Ben Barka from Geneva to Paris on a plausible but phony pretext: that Director Georges Franju (Head Against the Walls, Red Nights) wanted to make a film documentary about decolonization. Ben Barka was to meet Franju...
...until later that evening did Hassan feel certain of Oufkir's guilt. By that time, both Amekrane and another pilot, Major Kouera el Ouafi, were being questioned, a fact known by Oufkir. At 11 p.m., Hassan summoned Oufkir to his palace at Skhirat. Oufkir delayed, but after two more phone calls from the King, he arrived around midnight. The royal family was waiting; in a fury Hassan's mother grabbed Oufkir. "Listen, I've had enough of this army that has frightened me twice already," she said. Oufkir moved on into the children's room, nervously...
...right, I understand," said Oufkir. "I know what's left for me to do." With that, according to Hassan, Oufkir pulled his revolver to shoot himself. Others tried to stop him; some wild shots hit the ceiling. "The last shot was fatal," said Hassan-though he may not have told the whole story. Paris' Le Nouvel Observateur reported that those who saw Oufkir's body the next morning said that one bullet had hit him in the stomach, another near the lung, a third in the right arm, and a fourth in the back of his neck...