MADRID (AP) — A cross-border cell in the Spanish enclave of Melilla and the neighboring Moroccan city of Nador to recruit jihadis to fight for the Islamic State group has been dismantled, the two countries claimed Friday.

Spain’s Interior Ministry said the leader of the cell coordinated with his brother, an ex-Spanish soldier currently fighting with the Islamic Group. A specialist in arms and explosives, the former soldier had originally joined the al-Qaida splinter group, the Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa, or MUJAO, in 2012, which was fighting in the African state of Mali.