Morocco cafe bomb matches al Qaeda style

MARRAKECH, Morocco - Morocco's interior minister says that the style of a deadly cafe bombing matches al Qaeda's.

Taieb Cherqaoui also raised the death toll in the attack in a cafe on a famed square in Marrakech by one, to 16. Fourteen of the slain were foreigners. At least least half were French.

Cherqaoui said that initial results show that the bomb that killed 15 people in a square popular with foreigners was packed with nails and was set off remotely.

While the Interpol, the international police agency, had called Thursday's attack on a crowded tourist cafe in a historic Marrakech square a suspected suicide bombing, the minister disputes this.

Terrorist attack hits cafe in Morocco, 14 dead

"This was not a suicide attack ... and it appears the bomb was set of remotely," Cherqaoui told a meeting of government commission in Rabat.

He said the bomb contained aluminum nitrate among and that the remotely triggered bomb was packed with nails.

Cherqaoui's remarks were carried by the official MAP news agency.

No one has claimed responsibility for Morocco's deadliest attack since 2003.

The powerful blast at the Argana cafe struck the heart of the central Moroccan city's bustling old quarter, in Djemma el-Fna square, one of the top attractions in a country that depends heavily on tourism.

Government spokesman Khalid Naciri has told the AP it was too soon to lay blame, but he noted that that Morocco regularly dismantles cells linked to al Qaeda and has disrupted several plots.