France raids over Casablanca bombs

Early morning police raids in poor suburbs of Paris netted 13 people suspected of links to the deadly suicide bomb attacks in Morocco last year, France's Interior Ministry said yesterday.

It said the detainees were suspected of belonging to a militant Moroccan Islamic group that Spain suspects has al Qaeda links and carried out last month's Madrid train bombings.

Those detained were not directly linked to the commuter train bombings in Madrid which killed 191 people on March 11, the ministry statement said.

"Thirteen people have been held in custody. They are suspected of being members of the Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group," the statement said.

"These operations follow long investigations carried out by the DST (counter-intelligence network) in cooperation with its foreign partners. They have no link with the recent attacks in the Spanish capital," it said.

In a policy speech in the National Assembly, Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin said his newly appointed government would step up its defences against possible attacks.

"I reaffirm our commitment to reestablishing the authority of the state, especially regarding interior security and terrorism," he said. "A draft bill on civil security will be submitted to you soon."

The suspects can be held for up to 96 hours without being formally placed under investigation - the final step under French law before formal charges can be pressed.

Two other people were released after being detained in the raids carried out at about 6.00 a.m. (0400 GMT) in Aulnay-sous-Bois, a suburb east of Paris, and Mantes-la-Jolie west of the capital, judicial sources said.

Forty-five people were killed, including the bombers, in almost simultaneous attacks in Casablanca last May 16. Yesterday's raids were ordered as part of anti-terrorism investigations, including a probe into the death of a Frenchman in the attacks.

The Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group is a shadowy organisation believed to be tied to Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network.

Spain is holding a number of people, many of them Moroccan, over the Madrid bombings. Interior Minister Angel Acebes has named the Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group as its prime suspect.

France, which has a large Muslim minority of about five million people, is on high alert following the Madrid attacks.

A railway worker found a bomb half-buried on the main train line between Paris and Switzerland on March 24.

French authorities have also received threats in letters from a self-proclaimed Islamic group whose authenticity is in doubt.

Another group demanding cash said it had planted bombs on the French railway before suspending its threats last month. The group, calling itself AZF, said it would improve its methods and then could stage an attack more deadly than the Madrid bombings.