All 14 men who carried out last week's multiple suicide bombings in Casablanca have been identified, and their links with "international terrorism" have been confirmed, Interior Minister Mustapha Sahel said. Mr Sahel said on state television that 12 assailants, not 13 as initially reported, had died during their five-pronged assault on Friday, while "one terrorist was picked up the same evening, and security services carried out the arrest of the 14th last (Sunday) evening".
| "We thought it was 13, but it turned out one guy had an extra elbow..." |
He added: "The network that committed these terrorist acts in Casablanca has been fully identified." The Interior Minister said progress in the probe allowed investigators to "confirm our presumptions on the connection with international terrorism" in the nearly simultaneous attacks on Jewish and foreign targets — a profile associated with Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda network. Authorities have stopped short of fingering Al Qaeda, with Communication Minister Nabil Benabdellah saying that "concrete proof" of a link remained elusive.
| That's the difference between a Communication Minister and a Minister of Information. A Minister of Information would have assured us that all the bad guys had been caught, along with Osama bin Laden, and that all their stomaches were now roasting in hell, even though no explosions took place... |
Twenty-eight civilians were killed including six foreigners — three French nationals, two Spaniards and an Italian — in the attacks, the first of their kind in the conservative north African country.
| Last week it was a "moderate" north African country... |
Hospital officials feared the death toll in the attacks could rise, with 14 of the scores of wounded still in serious condition. Investigators have established that many of the assailants had only recently returned to Morocco from abroad, and Justice Minister Mohamed Bouzoubaa said that they were all from Casablanca's impoverished Sidi Moumen district. The industrial area south-east of Casablanca is the fiefdom of the banned fundamentalist Moroccan group Assirat al Moustaqim (The Straight Path), to which investigators have linked Friday's assailants. Several Assirat al Moustaqim members were sentenced in January to up to 20 years in prison for stoning a man to death under a religious "fatwa", or decree. More than 30 suspects have been arrested in connection with the deadly attacks since Friday. "The arrest of the two terrorists who are still living enabled remarkable advances in terms of intelligence," Mr Sahel said.
"Fez."
"Fez!"
"Moustache wax."
"Moustache wax!"
"Truncheon."
"Truncheon! Oooh, Effendi! That is some fine Moroccan leather!"
"It'd better be. This is Morocco." |
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