Investigators work at the site of a blast at a cafe in Marrakech. (File photo)
At least 17 people, including six French citizens, were killed and 20 others wounded in the terrorist bombing that rocked a café in the center of Morocco’s second largest city, Marrakech, on Thursday, according to Al Arabiya’s correspondent.
King Mohammed IV of Morocco ordered an urgent probe into the attack, the deadliest in Morocco since 2003, when 45 people including suicide bombers perished in a string of coordinated bombings in Casablanca.
The Al Arabiya correspondent cited a local official as saying the explosion at the cafe on the popular Jamaa al-Fna square, a cultural heritage site that draws a million tourists a year, may have been the work of a suicide bomber.
“Preliminary investigation … suggests that this was a terrorist act caused by an explosive device,” the official MAP news agency quoted Morocco’s Interior Minister Taieb Cherkaoui as saying.
The Marrakech tragedy is likely to have an adverse effect of tourism, which constitutes a major revenue source for Morocco.
Security experts said the attack bore all the hallmarks of a plot by Islamist militants.
“The majority of plots are detected in their early stages because Moroccan authorities retain a very effective network of informants right down to street level,” said Anna Murison of Exclusive Analysis, a consultancy, according to Reuters.
Quoting an unnamed security familiar with the investigation, the independent news portal Lakome.com also said it was a suicide attack. According to the source, the bomber was freed from prison two months ago after having been sentenced to eight years in jail for rape.
Secretary General Ban Ki-moon of the United Nations condemned the “heinous” bomb attack; Secretary of State Hillary Clinton of the United States called it a “cowardly” act.
A Dutch man died and two others—a man and a woman—were seriously wounded in the attack, Dutch foreign ministry official Christophe Kamp told Agence-France Presse.
Rabat and Paris condemned what they said was a “terrorist” attack on the cafe, a favorite haunt of foreign visitors to the city about 350 kilometers (220 miles) south of the capital Rabat.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who spoke to the Moroccan king on the telephone, termed it a “heinous, cruel and cowardly” attack, said his Elysee Palace office, which confirmed there were French casualties.
The explosion happened “on the terrace” of the popular Argana cafe, Latifa Idrissi, the wife of 28-year-old waiter Yassine Bouzidi, who was killed in the blast, told AFP.
One client recalled: “An individual came into the cafe. He ordered a glass of orange juice, and several minutes later, he blew himself up.”
The facade of the cafe and the first floor were severely damaged, and tables and chairs strewn around the terrace.
A student who was inside the cafe recalled hearing three loud explosions and seeing victims flee.
“A woman was blown into the air and I saw a man completely disfigured,” the student told AFP by telephone. “Then I saw a girl 14 or 15 years of age, she was also disfigured. The three were foreigners,” he said.
Morocco’s Communications Minister Khalid Naciri told AFP this was “a terrorist act.”
“Morocco is confronted by the same threats as in May 2003,” he said, adding the country would react “with diligence.”
Morocco, a country of 32 million people whose economy relies heavily on tourism, has largely been spared the pro-change revolts that have swept the Arab world since the end of last year.
But there have been three protests since February to demand reform, prompting King Mohammed VI to announce major political changes, including greater judicial independence.
In mid-April, he pardoned political prisoners, including Islamists, in a gesture of appeasement.
An extreme Islamist group, Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, is active in countries in the North Africa region.
Security forces have been deployed in the wake of the blast. A senior police official said cordons had been erected at the entrances to Morocco’s main cities, “to ensure the internal security of the country.”
French intelligence and anti-terrorism experts will travel to Marrakech on Friday to help in the probe, a source said.
UN Secretary General Ban said he was “appalled” by the attack, which the 15-nation Security Council denounced in “the strongest terms.”
British Foreign Secretary William Hague described it as “utterly reprehensible.”
“It was a cynical and abominable act and we condemn it,” German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said.
Last week, men claiming to be Moroccan members of Al Qaeda’s North African wing appeared in a video posted on YouTube threatening to attack Moroccan interests, Reuters reported.
A masked speaker, who identified himself as Abu Abdulrahman, said the planned attacks were to avenge the detention of Islamists by Moroccan authorities.
(Abeer Tayel of Al Arabiya can be reached via email at: abeer.tayel@mbc.net); Mustapha Ajbaili, also of Al Arabiya, can be reached at: Mustapha.ajbaili.mbc.net)
source : alarabiya
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