Casablanca Carnage

Just days after U.S. officials warned of possible worldwide attacks by Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network, a quick succession of five suicide bombings in Casablanca killed 31 bystanders and 10 terrorists Friday night, officials said.

There was no claim of responsibility.

The bombings threw Morocco's largest city and economic center into chaos.

The Moroccan government did not directly implicate al Qaeda, but the attacks confirmed fears that terrorists are striking lightly defended sites.

The buildings targeted Friday were the Casa de Espana, a Jewish community center called the Israelite Community Circle, an old Jewish cemetery, the Belgian Consulate and a major downtown hotel.

U.S. counterterrorism officials described strong suspicions that al Qaeda was behind the attacks, noting they resembled Monday's attacks in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia's capital, that killed 34 people, including eight Americans.

"We can expect more of these," said one official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

CBS News Correspondent Tom Fenton, in Riyadh, has learned that Belgian workers there were being warned about an unspecific terror threat just hours before the Moroccan bombings. It was accurate, but in the wrong country, Fenton notes. He says fearful foreigners in Riyadh are staying off the streets as much as possible.

There apparently was limited information pointing toward Morocco as a target. In an audiotape released in February, bin Laden described Morocco as one of several U.S. allies "ready for liberation." The motive for the bombings was unclear. Morocco has been a staunch U.S. ally, but expressed regret that a peaceful solution to the Iraqi crisis could not be found. Spain supported the U.S.-led war against Iraq but Belgium opposed it.

Middle East analyst Kevin Rosser of Control Risks Group pointed out to CBS News Correspondent Allen Pizzey that, "After Sept. 11, Morocco was one of first countries to condemn attacks, they stepped intelligence sharing with the U.S., and they are one of the countries where the U.S. has been sending terrorist suspects for questioning."

Three suspects, all Moroccans, were detained Friday night, the official MAP news agency said. Interior Minister Mustapha Sahel said a wounded suicide bomber was being interrogated by police.

"The acts perpetrated in Casablanca are the work of an international network of terrorism, and Morocco is determined to crack down on it without mercy," Hassam Aourid, spokesman for Morocco's royal palace, said in a statement carried by MAP.

The attacks bore many al Qaeda hallmarks: multiple, simultaneous strikes; suicide assailants; and lightly defended targets.

"They were terrorists, suicide bombers," Sahel said. "These are the well-known signatures of international terrorists."

CBS News consultant Neil Livingston says al Qaeda is the most likely culprit, since it's "trying to establish itself as being back, viable and effective."

The strikes left a trail of devastation and stunned this Muslim kingdom on the Atlantic coast.

Secretary of State Colin Powell condemned the bombings "in the strongest possible terms." He also thanked Morocco for its help in fighting terrorism, saying the United States "will continue to stand together with Morocco against this threat to both our nations and all peace-loving people."

The Bush administration was offering U.S. assistance to Morocco to find those responsible, a White House official said.

"Unfortunately that is not a surprise," U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz said Saturday in the Macedonian capital of Skopje. "The terrorists are still there. They are still dangerous."

Morocco has been grappling with rising Islamic militancy, and King Mohammed VI had expressed concern the U.S.-led war on Iraq could rouse the country's Islamic fundamentalist movement. In April, the kingdom put off municipal elections over fears that fundamentalists could gain ground. That decision followed the arrests of scores of suspected Muslim militants.

After the attacks in Saudi Arabia, but before the Morocco explosions, President Bush taped his weekly radio address and spoke of the threat posed by al Qaeda.

"The enemies of freedom are not idle, and neither are we. Our government is taking unprecedented measures to defend the homeland. And from Pakistan to the Philippines, to the Horn of Africa, we are hunting down al Qaeda killers."

The bombs in Casablanca wrecked parts of buildings, including the entrance to the glitzy Hotel Safir. Body parts were strewn about at some attack sites.

At least six Europeans - two Spaniards, two Italians and two French - were killed, according to the chief of medical services at the Averroes Hospital, Said Ouhalia. No U.S. citizens were reported among the dead.

The Spanish Embassy in Morocco's capital, Rabat, said the blast at the restaurant killed up to 20 people. That would make it the bloodiest of the five attacks.

Lamia Haffi, a restaurant employee, told Spanish National Radio that three attackers entered the room after slitting a security guard's throat. Then two of them detonated bombs.

"Inside, there was flesh. Flesh everywhere," she said.

Belgian Foreign Minister Louis Michel said his government did not believe its consulate was a target and the building suffered "collateral damage."

But Correspondent Pizzey quotes informed sources as saying the Belgians had a warning as early as last Thursday that they could be targeted, but did not know where.

"The lessons to draw from the events in Saudi Arabia and now in Morocco is that we, Europeans and the United States together, will have to work on the causes of terrorism," Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt Verhofstadt said.

Michel said a restaurant across the street from the consulate was the likely real target. The Positano restaurant is owned by a French Jew of Moroccan origin.

Owner Jean-Mark Levy said the bomb blew up in the middle of the narrow street and the consulate took most of the impact.

"We are profoundly shocked," said Serge Berdugo, president of the Council of the Jewish Community in Morocco. "This drama is a thunderbolt in a serene sky."

About 4,000 Jews, at most, live in Morocco, and the country is proud of the harmony between its Muslims and Jewish minority.

Last year, Moroccan authorities exposed an al Qaeda plot to attack U.S. and British warships in the Strait of Gibraltar. Three Saudis were given 10-year prison sentences in February.

Sahel, Morocco's interior minister, said his country would not be intimidated. "The Kingdom of Morocco will never surrender to terrorists and
will not allow anyone to disturb its security," he said.

The attacks also put other nations further on edge.

In Paris, France raised the level of its security alert. "Such events can only reinforce our common determination to battle without pause against international terrorism," French President Jacques Chirac said Saturday.