Al-Qaeda suspected in Marrakesh bombing

A bomb in Marrakesh that killed 15 people was set off by a remote-control device, a minister said yesterday, as it emerged that an Al-Qaeda group had warned there would be an attack in Morocco.

Interior Minister Taeb Cherkaoui also told a parliamentary committee that the country was on the alert for further attacks.

“Initial inquiries have shown an explosive product made up of nitrate and ammonium and two TATP explosives, and also with nails – and the explosion was set off from a distance,” Mr Cherkaoui told deputies in the capital Rabat.

“Those who are in the habit of opting for this mode of action from a distance are known, which allows us to think that the danger is still present and we have to remain vigilant and prudent,” he added.

Triacetone triperoxyde, or TATP, is relatively easy to make and has surfaced in a number of recent investigations into attacks, including the July 2005 London bombings that killed 56 people and injured another 700.

So far no one has claimed responsibility for Thursday’s bombing of a popular tourist café in Djemaa el-Fna, Marrakesh’s main square, and Cherkaoui said investigators were exploring all leads “including that of Al-Qaeda”.

But a video posted on the internet three days before the bombing and attributed to Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) included a threat to Morocco. AQIM has in the past been active in countries in the region, notably carrying out a series of kidnappings for ransom.

Witnesses said the blast went off on the terrace of the Argana café, a favourite haunt for tourists in Marrakesh, wrecking the façade and the first floor.

Mr Cherkaoui’s statement appeared to revise earlier speculation from Moroccan officials that the attack might have been a suicide bombing.

The death toll stood at 15, of whom 12 were foreign nationals, and 26 people were wounded, Mr Cherkaoui said. Earlier reports had spoken of 16 dead.

The Moroccan news agency cited official sources in a report saying that among the foreign nationals killed in the blast were “two Moroccans, two French nationals, two Canadians and a Dutch national”.

Authorities in France said at least six of the dead were French while the Netherlands confirmed the death of the Dutchman.

Israeli media reported that a 30-year-old pregnant Israeli woman and her husband, who was originally from Morocco, were among those killed.

Thursday’s attack came in the wake of a growing movement for democratic reform in Morocco.

In his statement, Mr Cherkaoui promised: “This act will not stop the choice of the Moroccan state to pursue the march of democracy and the respect of human rights.”

There have been three protests since February to demand reform, prompting King Mohammed VI to announce major political changes, including greater judicial independence.

In mid-April, he pardoned political prisoners, including Islamists, in a gesture of appeasement.

The Marrakesh attack was the deadliest in the North African monarchy since 33 people were killed by 12 suicide bombers in Casablanca in 2003. An attempted attack in 2007 was thwarted and one of three would-be bombers killed.

Morocco depends heavily on tourism, with around 9.4 million tourists visiting the country in 2010, two million of them French.