Madrid, Sep 5 (IANS): The Spanish Civil Guard confirmed on Saturday that they have detained a Moroccan teenaged girl who was on the verge of travelling to Syria to join the Islamic State (IS) terror group.

The 18-year-old had a Spanish residency and was detained in the town of Gandia in the autonomous community of Valencia on charges of promotion of terrorism, Xinhua news agency reported.

Spanish security forces confirmed that the woman detained had been carrying out tasks such as the diffusion of jihadi ideas and the justification of terrorist acts, such as publishing videos praising executions with the aim of recruiting for the IS.

It had also come to light in recent days that she had said she was planning to travel to Syria to join the IS and was in the closing stages of making her preparations for the trip.

The arrest brings the number of jihadi supporters detained in Spain during 2015 to 49 and comes in the wake of the arrest of 14 people by Spanish and Moroccan police (13 in Morocco and 1 in Spain), whom authorities say were planning massacres in both the countries.

Meanwhile, around 125 people are thought to have left Spain to join the IS in Syria and Iraq.