SOME 15 people, including 10 foreigners, were killed in a suspected bomb attack on a cafe in the Moroccan city of Marrakesh yesterday.
State television said six French nationals and five Moroccans were among those killed when a powerful explosion ripped through the Argana cafe on Jamaa el-Fna square, a popular tourist location.
If the bombing is the work of Islamist militants, it would be the first major attack they have carried out in Morocco since 2003, when a series of suicide bombings in the commercial capital, Casablanca, killed more than 45 people.
The cafe is in the Marrakesh medina, or old city, which is a UN World Heritage Site. It is usually packed with stalls, storytellers and snake charmers seeking to attract tourists.
The Department of Foreign Affairs said it was not aware of any Irish victims.
“Analysis of the early evidence collected at the site of the blast that occurred on Thursday at a cafe in Marrakesh confirms the theory of an attack,” the interior ministry said in a statement carried by the official MAP news agency.
King Mohammed ordered a quick and transparent investigation into what he described as a “criminal explosion”, the agency reported.
Morocco’s communications minister, Khalid Naciri, told French television the bombing was “a terrorist act”.
The latest attack came weeks after King Mohammed VI announced constitutional reforms and just days after the authorities released some political prisoners, including fundamentalist Salafists.
French president Nicolas Sarkozy, confirming that French nationals were among the victims, condemned “a despicable, cruel and cowardly act” and expressed solidarity with the Moroccan people.
Foreign minister Alain Juppé denounced “in the strongest possible way this barbaric terrorist attack that nothing could justify”.
The circumstances of the bombing remained unclear yesterday. One witness suggested the bomber ordered an orange juice before blowing himself up a few minutes later, but a separate report claimed a device was left on the premises.
Last week, men claiming to be Moroccan members of al-Qaeda’s north African wing appeared in a video posted on the internet threatening to attack Moroccan interests.
A masked speaker said the planned attacks were to avenge the detention of Islamists by the Moroccan authorities.