Moroccan investigators rounded up and questioned suspected Islamic militants after a series of suicide bombings that killed 28 people, an official said.
Five "groups of kamikazes" -- 14 attackers in all -- carried out the Friday night attacks, Interior Minister Mostapha Sahel said Saturday. He said 13 bombers were killed -- making the death toll 41. A surviving, wounded attacker was being interrogated, he said.
PHOTO: AP
Investigators were focusing on whether the attackers were linked to a known extremist group, Salafia Jihadia, which is suspected of belonging to the al-Qaeda terror network, an Interior Ministry official said.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said suspected Islamic militants were being questioned but that it was "too early at this stage to refer to them as arrests." It was not clear how many people were questioned.
Police set up barriers on roads into Casablanca, checking cars.
Salafia Jihadia has been the object of police sweeps for months. About 100 people found to have ties with the homegrown group were in custody as recently as March, including a suspected leader known for fiery sermons and anti-Western views.
The attacks appeared to target mainly Jewish and Spanish interests. Spain was a leading US ally in the war on Iraq.
The attacks stunned this moderate Muslim North African kingdom -- a staunch US ally and popular tourist destination -- and sowed new anguish around the world. They came just four days after similar terror attacks on Western targets in the Saudi capital of Riyadh that killed 34 people.
The bombers appeared organized and their attack carefully planned.
The interior minister said they divided into five groups in the attacks on five civilian targets -- from a Spanish social club to an old Jewish cemetery. About 100 people were injured, 14 seriously, the minister said.
The dead included two Spaniards, two French and one Italian, he said.
These "were classic terrorist targets: Jews..., tourists and foreigners," Serge Berdugo, president of the Council of the Jewish Community in Morocco, was quoted as saying by the national MAP news agency. "The goal is put us in the spiral of international terrorism."
Up to 4,000 Jews live in Morocco, and the kingdom is proud of the harmony that marks relations between its Jewish minority and Muslims.
The deadliest bombing ripped through the upscale Casa de Espana social club as clients were playing bingo or dining. Some 20 people were killed, including a guard whose throat was slit, said the club president.
The scene of horror was repeated at other downtown sites. Besides the Casa de Espana, the bombers struck a Jewish community center, a Jewish cemetery, a hotel and a Jewish-owned Italian restaurant in front of the Belgian Consulate, which was damaged.
Without directly implicating al-Qaeda, the Moroccan government laid blame on international terrorism.
Islamic fundamentalists are well installed in Morocco, especially active at universities and in the grinding poverty of cities like Casablanca -- Morocco's largest.
Militants were kept in check for decades in a careful balancing act by the late King Hassan II, who ruled for 38 years. Monarchs here bear the highly respected title of "commander of the faithful."
However, militants have grown bolder as King Mohammed VI, who took the throne in 1999, presses ahead with efforts to modernize and moves to democratize.
In April, the kingdom put off municipal elections over fears that fundamentalists could gain ground. In September legislative voting, the Islamic moderate Justice and Development Party tripled its seats to 42 in the 325 parliamentary chamber.
Morocco has been spared the violence that has scarred neighboring Algeria, where the government has battled Islamic extremists for more than a decade.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
RIVER TRAGEDY: Local fishers and residents helped rescue people after the vessel capsized, while motorbike taxis evacuated some of the injured At least 58 people going to a funeral died after their overloaded river boat capsized in the Central African Republic’s (CAR) capital, Bangui, the head of civil protection said on Saturday. “We were able to extract 58 lifeless bodies,” Thomas Djimasse told Radio Guira. “We don’t know the total number of people who are underwater. According to witnesses and videos on social media, the wooden boat was carrying more than 300 people — some standing and others perched on wooden structures — when it sank on the Mpoko River on Friday. The vessel was heading to the funeral of a village chief in