MOROCCO: Two bombers attack U.S. targets in Morocco

Two suicide bombers have blown themselves up near the U.S. diplomatic offices in Casablanca. Two suicide bombers killed themselves in an attack on U.S. diplomatic offices in Morocco's commercial hub Casablanca on Saturday (April 14) in the first such targeted bombings in four years, witnesses said. Police arrested a third bomber as he tried to flee the scene of the mid-morning attack on the U.S. cultural centre and the nearby U.S. consulate in an upscale district of the port city, where three suicide bombers blew themselves up four days ago. "I was near our house. A man who seemed under the influence of drugs walked past me. He threw his jumper and started running. When the police arrived I told them about him and they arrested him," Sara, a resident of a nearby house said. They also later arrested the leaders of the armed group to which the two suicide bombers and those responsible for Tuesday's blasts belonged, a security official said. The senior official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Reuters the two arrested men -- the head and deputy head of the gang -- had given investigators the names of the group's members and their plans for future attacks. Analysts say the recent series of suicide bombings in Morocco signal a sharp expansion in the threat from armed groups seeking to establish Islamic rule in north Africa. "Morocco is threatened by terrorism. What is happening now confirms that the danger is here. It also shows that there are potential suicide bombers here and that we are under threat," Mostapha Zenaidi, a Moroccan journalist said. On Tuesday (April 10) three suicide bombers killed themselves in a poor neighbourhood of Casablanca after police raided a safe house and shot dead a fourth bomber, setting off their explosives so as not to be taken alive by police who were on their tail. Saturday's targeted suicide bombings were the first in Morocco since May 2003 when attackers set off at least five explosions in Casablanca that hit a Spanish restaurant, a five-star hotel and a Jewish community centre. Forty-five people were killed, including 12 bombers, and about 60 were wounded. A police source said only the two bombers were killed in Saturday attack. Police later arrested three other men, winning cheers from hundreds of onlookers as officers pushed the three into a police car to be taken away for questioning. Witnesses said the first blast happened about six metres (yards) from the cultural centre and the second went off about 20 seconds later 60 metres away from the consulate. The government has said it was on alert for a gang who planned to blow up foreign ships docking at Casablanca's port and hotels in Morocco's main tourist cities. The Rabat government says the bombers were "home-grown" militants with no links to international terror networks.

ITN Source | April 15, 2007

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