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| Africa North |
| Morocco probes possible suicide attack |
| 2007-03-12 |
| CASABLANCA, Morocco - Moroccan officials on Monday questioned a man caught carrying explosives who tried to flee a Casablanca Internet cafe after a suspected suicide bomber was blown up in the cafe during a tussle with its owner. Security officials in the North African country said on Sunday night a man with explosives hidden under his clothes had a dispute with the owner of an Internet cafe and the blast occurred as the two men were coming to blows. The the man armed with explosives died and three other people were wounded in the blast. Another man at the scene who attempted to flee was arrested by police and found to be carrying explosives, security sources said. He was being questioned on Monday. Investigators said they were trying to determine if the explosion was a suicide attack or if the device detonated accidentally and the man had been planning another attack. ‘The investigation is continuing and we hope the arrested man will talk and clarify more the matter, including whether the man with the explosives (who was killed) planned a bomb attack elsewhere,’ said one official, who asked not to be identified. The blast occurred in the commercial capital’s Sidi Moumen slum, home to 13 suicide bombers who killed 32 people in Casablanca in 2003. Sunday was the third anniversary of train bombings in Madrid that killed 191 people. Morocco, on high alert after a string of bomb attacks last month in neighbouring Algeria, has said it had information about an Al Qaeda plot to mount an attack but that the circumstances of the Internet cafe blast were not clear. ‘We do not know whether the explosion was a suicide bombing or the explosive device went off inadvertently during the dispute,’ the official said. ‘The man used to come to view jihadist Web sites and the dispute was prompted by the Internet cafe owner’s decision to prevent him this time from viewing such propaganda material,’ said the official. There was no immediate claim of responsibility by militants for any attack in Casablanca. Security forces cordoned off the area as police sifted through the blast scene for clues, witnesses said. Governments in North Africa fear violence may spill over from Algeria after the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat renamed itself Al Qaeda organisation in the Islamic Maghreb with the aim of fusing similar Islamist groups groups together. Last week, security sources said police had arrested the head of the military wing of the Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group (MICG). Police suspect Saad Houssaini, 38, of involvement in the 2003 Casablanca bombings and the 2004 Madrid bombings. Only the narrow Strait of Gibraltar separates Morocco from Spain. Security experts believe the MICG is one of the small militant factions to have joined the Al Qaeda group. Security sources said police were hunting for suspected Al Qaeda members who may have infiltrated from Algeria. Morocco, a constitutional monarchy and heavily dependent on agriculture, has backed the U.S.-led war against terrorism launched after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the United States. |
| Posted by:Steve |