Morocco arrests Frenchman linked to suicide blasts

Moroccan authorities arrested yesterday a French national suspected of involvement in the May 16 suicide bombings in Casablanca that killed 43 people, the official MAP news agency said.

Quoting sources close to the investigation, the agency said Robert Richard Antoine-Pierre, who used the aliases Lhaj and Abu Abderrahmane suggesting that he converted to the Islamic faith, was arrested in the northern city of Tangiers.

Thirty-one people were killed in the attacks along with 12 suicide bombers who almost simultaneously targeted five sites in the sprawling city, including a Spanish restaurant, a five-star hotel and a Jewish community centre.

Morocco, a staunch US ally, said the suicide bombers had links with international terrorism and that details would be given once investigations are complete.

A government source told Reuters the Frenchman was a 31-year-old from the Lyon area who married a Moroccan and settled in Tangiers six years ago, and has two children of French nationality.

He was a used car salesman who travelled to France, Belgium and Germany to find vehicles to resell in Morocco.

"Thanks to his frequent trips he was the liaison person between Moroccan networks and foreign networks," the source said, without giving further details.

Authorities said they have charged at least 30 men in connection with the attacks which have been blamed on a small Islamic group based in a poor Casablanca neighbourhood.

The alleged mastermind of the bombings died in police custody last week, two days after his arrest, from chronic heart and liver disease, they said.