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Series of "Real-time" EmergencyNet News Reports on Multiple Explosions in Casablanca, Morocco - 16/17 May 2003 |
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20 May 2003
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From: ERRI DAILY INTELLIGENCE REPORT-Tuesday, May 20,
2003-Vol. 9, No. 131 MOROCCO BOMBING INVESTIGATION UPDATE MOROCCO: The Morocco government said on Tuesday that young suicide bombers who killed at least 29 people in Casablanca last week were linked to international terrorism. A day after FBI special agents joined the investigation into the five almost simultaneous blasts, Interior Minister Mustapha Sahel said the interrogation of two would-be attackers who survived the blasts had established the link. he said in a statement carried by the official MAP news agency: "The arrest of the two terrorists still alive has led to considerable progress in terms of information. This allows us today to confirm the link with international terrorism." Officials said eight of the suicide bombers, who press reports said were aged 18-24, came from Casablanca's impoverished Sidi Moumen neighborhood. Some were students. The attacker whose explosive device did not go off, who was arrested on the spot, worked as a parking attendant. Analysts say that the bombers made quite a few mistakes in their attacks. The bombers attacked a Jewish community center when it was closed and empty. A day later, the building would have been packed. Another attacker blew himself up near a fountain, killing three Muslims. He apparently mistook it for one near a Jewish cemetery not far away. The cemetery was undamaged. These and other miscalculations indicate that the suicide attackers were not as well-trained as first believed. A high-level Moroccan official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that investigators suspect the bombings were the work of homegrown Islamic groups working on instructions from al-Qaeda. In the apparent attempt to attack the Jewish cemetery, the bomber detonated his explosives at a fountain about 150 feet from the graveyard. The head of the local police unit suspected the bomber meant the explosion to take place at a similar fountain at the cemetery entrance. Investigators were busy on Monday looking for evidence of overseas ties to the bombers. Police were trying to determine if the attackers were linked to the extremist group Salafia Jihadia, which is accused of ties to al-Qaeda. Another Moroccan group suspected is the Attakfir wal Hijra, also believed to have al-Qaeda links.
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17 May 2003 |
INSTANT UPDATE 09:00CDT MOROCCO: At least 39 people were killed and 60 others were wounded in near-simultaneous blasts that rocked the Moroccan coastal city of Casablanca late Friday. Interior Minister Mustapha Sahel said: "They were terrorists, suicide bombers. These are the well-known signatures of international terrorists." Another government official said there were probably foreigners among the victims of Friday night's blasts, adding that car bombs had not been used. While the Moroccan government did not directly link the bombings to the fugitive Usama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network, the attacks confirmed fears that terrorists have plans to strike sites worldwide. Some of the damaged sites included a Jewish community center, the Belgian consulate and a Spanish restaurant. Government officials had originally reported that at least three of the explosions were from car bombs, and a fourth was detonated by a homicide bomber wearing an explosive belt in a Spanish restaurant. Residents had reported hearing a fifth explosion. A diplomatic source said at least one Spanish citizen was among the dead, but that could not be officially confirmed. Spain's foreign minister said there were no Spanish residents of Casablanca among the victims, but that Spaniards visiting the city could have been hurt. The exact motive for the bombings appeared confused -- Spain supported the United States in the war against Iraq -- Belgium opposed the war, but hosts the headquarters of NATO and the European Union. Jewish citizens have been a traditional target of Islamic militants. Casablanca, Morocco's economic center, was thrown into chaos. Police and rescue workers rushed to the sites to care for dazed, blood-splattered survivors. Sahel did not name the al-Qaeda terrorist network, but cities across the globe had been bracing for the possibility of attacks by the group. In Morocco, municipal elections were delayed in April over concerns of growing Muslim fundamentalism. The attacks also had three hallmarks of al-Qaeda: (1) They involved multiple, simultaneous strikes; (2) they were carried out by homicide assailants; (3) and they targeted lightly defended areas. A U.S. counterterrorism official in Washington said late Friday there were no immediate claims of responsibility or any clear indication of who conducted the bombings. However, al-Qaeda involvement was plausible, and the group maintains a presence in Morocco. The official Moroccan news agency MAP reported that three suspects, all Moroccans, were taken into custody, without elaborating. The agency also said that ten of the dead were attackers. Officials said that the blasts appeared to take place almost simultaneously just after 21:00 hours local time. The U.S. State Department said no U.S. government offices were targeted. The Belgian Foreign Ministry told the Belgian news agency Belga that the Belgian consulate was heavily damaged. Two policemen outside the building were killed and a security guard was hospitalized. Three Saudis were arrested in Casablanca last year for leading an al-Qaeda plot to attack U.S. and British warships in the Straits of Gibraltar. The three were given ten-year prison sentences in February by a Moroccan court. Even before last night's terror bombings in Morocco, U.S. intelligence agencies said they were picking up signs just as strong as those before this week's bombings in Saudi Arabia that al-Qaeda was plotting further imminent attacks. U.S. officials said on Friday that the "chatter" among terrorism suspects picked up by U.S. eavesdropping may even be "more definitive" than prior to the coordinated car bombings of residential compounds in Riyadh on Monday. One intelligence official cited "strong indications that they (al-Qaeda) are building to something soon," possibly in the next few days. This could've been in regards to Friday's attack. It appeared the threats were aimed at targets overseas, rather than inside the United States where the national threat level remained unchanged at "elevated." One intelligence official said that the "chatter" appeared to be "more consistent, more repetitive" about another attack than it was before the Saudi bombings. Casablanca lies 200 miles south/southwest of Spain on North Africa's Atlantic coast. It is immediately adjacent to Algeria. It is the largest city in Morocco, with 3.5 million people.
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16/17 May 2003 |
INSTANT UPDATE
20:30CDT/01:30 Casablanca time |
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Casablanca, Morocco (EmergencyNet News) -- At least three car bombs and another (possible homicide/suicide person) bomb devastated the business district of Casablanca on Friday night, killing at least 22 people and wounding at least fifty (50) others, according to Morocco's official news agency. It should be noted, however, that preliminary casualty figures have been notoriously inaccurate in several recent terrorist bombings. A device exploded near the Belgian consulate, another bomb exploded near Casa D'Espangne -- a Spanish social club, and yet another bomb was also reported near a hotel and Jewish community center...all so called "soft targets." No one has so far claimed responsibility for the blasts, but officials said that they are increasingly sure that tonight's tragedy was the result of a coordinated and synchronized set of of terrorist attacks. Although it is entirely too early to draw any conclusions, only the Al-Qaeda terrorist network has thus far shown the capability of coordinating such a series of simultaneous and deadly attacks, ERRI counter-terrorist analysts said. EmergencyNet News will bring you additional updates if/when additional facts become available...
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16/17 May 2003 |
24:00 Morocco time/19:00CDT |
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INITIAL REPORT: Casablanca, Morocco (EmergencyNet News) -- Just in to the Watchdesk... preliminary and largely unconfirmed reports of multiple explosions in the central business district of Casablanca are coming in at this hour. It is believed that there are several people wounded and that there may be fatalities at the scene. No cause or motive for the explosions is currently known, but police are calling the incidents a "criminal act." Unofficial accounts suggest that the explosions were caused by "car bombs," although that hasn't been confirmed through official sources in Casablanca. Rescue operations are underway at the time of this report. the first explosion happened at about 22:00 local time.
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