Some of the 13 suicide bombers who killed 28 people in Casablanca are Moroccans linked to a little-known local radical Islamist group and came from abroad, according to Morocco's Justice Minister.
"Some of those came from a foreign country recently. However, they are Moroccan citizens," Mr Mohamed Bouzoubaa, told state television yesterday.
Moroccan authorities had earlier singled out radical Islamists sympathetic to al-Qaeda as authors of the five almost simultaneous blasts against mainly Jewish and Spanish targets.
A 14th attacker was seriously injured and is being held in police custody.
"He gave the information on his criminal accomplices and helped identify those who were involved in this operation," Mr Bouzoubaa said. "They are linked to some elements who are currently being tried at the Appeal Court in Casablanca. Some indications suggest that they are linked to a group calling itself Assirat al Moustaquim."
Assirat al Moustaquim (the Righteous Path) is believed to be a splinter group of another radical Islamist organisation, Salafist Jihad. Moroccan police rounded up 33 suspects on Saturday, including some linked to the Salafist Jihad group. Five were still in custody yesterday, government sources said.
One of Salafist Jihad's main spiritual leaders, Ould Mohammed Abdelwahab Raqiqi, alias Abu Hafs, was jailed this year for inciting violence against Westerners. The 28-year-old cleric, who was among the Arab mujahideen in Afghanistan in the early 1990s, had expressed clear support for the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington and hailed the al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden as a hero.
The Casablanca attacks also left about 100 people wounded, 14 of them seriously.
Seven foreigners - three French nationals, three Spaniards and an Italian - were killed in the second major attack within a week on an Arab kingdom with historically close ties to the United States. Saudi Arabia was hit by multiple suicide bombings on Monday.
A Jewish community centre, a Jewish-owned restaurant, a Spanish club and a Kuwaiti-owned hotel were among the civilian targets on Friday.
Worst hit was the Casa de España private club. Clients were dining or playing bingo in a large courtyard inside the club when two suicide bombers struck.
Royal Palace spokesman Mr Hassan Aourid called the Casablanca attacks "the work of blind international terrorism".
However, some commentators were doubtful about the suspected link to al-Qaeda. "If al-Qaeda is behind these raids, how come no American interests were targeted?" asked Mr Aboubakr Jamai, editor of Le Journal Hebdomadaire, a weekly publication often critical of the government. "The political dimension of the targets is not obvious."
In February, three Saudi men described as members of al- Qaeda and Moroccan accomplices were jailed for criminal conspiracy and other charges.
Zacarias Moussaoui, a French citizen of Moroccan descent, is the only person charged in the United States in connection with the September 11th attacks. - (Reuters)