Casablanca (Morocco) Suicide Bombing -Four Days After the Riyadh Bombing

Suicide bombers attacked four targets in Casablanca within minutes of each other on Friday night (16 May) at around 10 p.m. local time.

This came about just hours after the United States said al Qaeda was poised to strike again,and after 4 days of the Riyadh bomb blasts.

Casablanca, on the Atlantic coast about 60 miles southwest of the capital Rabat, has an official population of three million.

Casa de Espana

The bombers struck the Hotel Safir in the heart of the old city, a Jewish community center, a Jewish- owned Italian restaurant and the Casa de Espana social club.The Jewish center was badly damaged. Two policemen were killed. They were standing outside Belgium's consulate which stood opposite the Jewish-owned restaurant.

Reuters reported a total of 39 people were killed and 65 wounded -- 17 of them seriously. As many as 10 of the dead may have been the suicide bombers themselves.


Most of those killed were said to be those at the Casa de Espana social club, popular with Spanish business people and diplomats. The secretary of the Casa de Espana Spanish social club told Spain's state radio. " They cut off the doorman's head with a big knife".

Witnesses said at least one attacker blew himself up with grenades strapped to his belt in the attacks.

Morocco is an Arab state but with close ties to the United States. Spain was a strong supporter of the United States in the war against Iraq.


Moroccan Interior Minister Al Mustapha Sahel said three Moroccans were arrested.

In February, Osama bin Laden identified Morocco among a list of "apostate" Arab nations in a cassette message. The same month, three Saudi nationals were sentenced to 10 years in prison for having plotted attacks against Western targets in Morocco and the Strait of Gibraltar last year. Six Moroccan accomplices received jail terms of up to a year.

  Go to Latest Posting

---

Comments 0

---