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Moroccan Official Blames Al-Qaida for Bombing

   VOA News  April 30, 2011
   Moroccan security commission officers leave the Argna cafe, on Djemma
   el-Fna square in Marrakech, April 28, 2011

Photo: AP

   Moroccan security commission officers leave the Argna cafe, on Djemma
   el-Fna square in Marrakech, April 28, 2011

   Morocco's interior minister says the bomb that killed 16 people in a
   historic square in Marrakech appears to have been the work of al-Qaida.
   The minister told reporters late Friday the bomb was detonated
   remotely, in a style normally used by the terrorist organization.
   The blast tore the facade off a two-story cafe in Jemaa el-Fna square -
   a bustling tourist destination in the heart of Marrakech. Authorities
   say at least 10 foreigners were among the dead, many of them French
   citizens.
   Morocco was rocked by a series of Islamist extremist attacks in 2003
   that left 45 people dead, including 12 suicide bombers.
   U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Thursday described the
   bombing as a cowardly attack and offered U.S. assistance.
   U.N. Secretary Ban Ki-moon said he was "appalled" by the bombing and
   said "no political objective justifies or is served by such heinous
   acts."

   Some information for this report was provided by AFP.

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