Police Seized Morocco Suspects

Police Seized Morocco Suspects
In a series of raids, Moroccan police arrested 33 suspects Saturday, including some linked to the Salafiya Al-Jihadiya group, a senior government official said. One of the group's main spiritual leaders was jailed earlier this month. Moroccan Interior Minister Al Mustapha Sahel said the investigation "points to a group that has been arrested recently," an apparent reference to Salafiya Al-Jihadiya. The minister told state-run on 2M television that police had identified the bodies of seven of the 14-strong cell believed to have carried out the five almost simultaneous attacks Friday night. The attacks, the first in Morocco since two Spanish tourists were gunned down in a Marrakech hotel in 1995, left around 100 people wounded and shattered Morocco's image as a relatively stable country and safe tourist destination. A Jewish community center, a Jewish-owned restaurant and a Spanish club were among the targets in Friday's night of death and destruction. Three French nationals, two Spaniards and an Italian were reported killed in the second major attack within a week on an Arab kingdom with historically close ties to the United States. Bush said the attacks in Casablanca and the Saudi capital Riyadh "demonstrate that the war against terror goes on," and offered Morocco U.S. support to track down the perpetrators. Meanwhile in the Moroccan capital Rabat, security was heavy around Western embassies but remained at levels imposed after the start of the U.S.-led war in Iraq. The al Qaeda network is blamed for the September 11 attacks on U.S. cities in 2001 and U.S. officials said a link between al Qaeda and the Morocco attacks was plausible. Last year the security forces arrested a group suspected of plotting al Qaeda attacks on U.S. and British targets in the Gibraltar strait and Morocco's tourist capital Marrakesh, but until now it is not proved that they have any connection with al Qaeda. **PHOTO CAPTION*** Policemen stand guard in front of the Casablanca Jewish cultural center, the target of a bomb attack. (AFP/Abdelhak Senna)

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