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| Africa North |
| Police Seize 200 Kg Of Explosives In Casablanca |
| 2007-03-15 |
| Casablanca, 15 March (AKI) - Moroccan police found 200 kilograms of explosives following an extensive operation in Casablanca's Mulay Rashid neighbourhood as part of investigations into an apparent suicide attack on Sunday at an internet cafe, reports said Thursday. Some 300 plainclothes officials evacuated on Wednesday night entire buildings in the area to search the homes of suspects and found the explosives in the home of one of the two attackers of the cafe in the city's Sidi Mumin area. Saad al-Hasani, who is believed to be the leader of the armed wing of the militant Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group, or GICM, used to regularly visit the apartment where the explosives were found. Police reportedly carried out the operation with the aid of counter-terrorism experts with the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Officials have already arrested 12 people in connection with Sunday's explosion in which only the attacker, identified as Abdel Fattah al-Raydi, died. His alleged accomplice was wounded. Six of those arrested lived in the neighbourhood of Mulay Rashid while another four, incluuding a woman, lived nearby. This just in: Rabat - Moroccan police investigating a suicide bombing in a Casablanca cybercafe have arrested seven former Islamist prisoners previously released under a royal pardon, newspapers reported Wednesday. "L'Opinion" reported that those being questioned had - before being pardoned - been suspects in the devastating Casablanca bombings of May 16, 2003. Those attacks killed 45 people, including 12 suicide attackers, and wounded dozens more. Sunday's attack injured four people and police already said they had the bomber's suspected accomplice, named as Youssef Khoudri, in custody. "The security services have arrested seven Salafists who had benefited from a royal pardon," the independent newspaper "Aujourd'hui le Maroc" (Morocco Today) reported. Police believe the suicide bomber did not intend to detonate his explosives belt at the cafe but the device went off unexpectedly while his target was far from Sidi Mumin. Raydi was reportedly at the cafe with an accomplice, Youssef Khoudri, who was arrested a few hours after Sunday's explosion, and the police suspect the two were awaiting orders via the internet on which target they were meant to strike. Khoudri is being treated at a local hospital and risks loosing his eye as a consequence of the explosion. Most of the 13 bombers responsible for the 2003 Casablanca bomb attacks, in which 32 people were killed, come from Sidi Mumin. Sunday also marked the third anniversary of the Madrid train station attacks in which 191 people lost their lives. Morocco is on a state of high alert after recent explosions and attacks in neighbouring Algeria. |
| Posted by:Steve |
| #5 Yeah, LH. Either that, or Sydney Greenstreet's trying to go straight... |
| Posted by: tu3031 2007-03-15 14:40 |
| #4 "Rabat - Moroccan police investigating a suicide bombing in a Casablanca cybercafe" The proprietor of the cafe helped catch the terrorists didnt he? Perhaps the proprietor was an old hand at antiterrorism, from Israel to Spain, whod tried to leave his past behind him by going to ... Casablanca. |
| Posted by: liberalhawk 2007-03-15 14:35 |
| #3 Hat tip to the Casablanca Chief of Police and the FBI Legat embassy weenies. Sticking a quarter in the juke box for those unlucky GICM lads: Scratch, scratch, static.... You must remember this / A kiss is still a kiss / A sigh is just a sigh / The fundamental things apply / As time goes by. / And when two lovers woo, / They still say, "I love you" / On that you can rely / No matter what the future brings-................. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2007-03-15 09:08 |
| #2 I'm shocked, shocked, that Islamists would commit acts of violence. |
| Posted by: mhw 2007-03-15 08:42 |
| #1 Police reportedly carried out the operation with the aid of counter-terrorism experts with the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Two thoughts: 200 kg seems like and awful lot of explosives, and The FBI seem to be involved in a surprising (to me) number of these overseas successes. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2007-03-15 08:34 |