Two bombers attack US targets in Morocco

Two suicide bombers killed themselves in an attack on US diplomatic offices in Morocco's commercial hub Casablanca yesterday 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 US cultural centre and the nearby US consulate in an upscale district of the port city, where three suicide bombers blew themselves up four days ago.

"He threw down his explosives belt and ran away. Police chased him and caught him," said the owner of a coffee shop in the neighbourhood, who declined to be identified.

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.

Yesterday'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 senior police source said yesterday's bombers clearly intended to attack the US buildings. "They made that statement with their own bodies," the source said. He said the two could not get closer to the buildings due to security fortifications.