Morocco Rounds Up Blast Suspects

Intensifying their crackdown on Islamic militants, investigators raided fundamentalist strongholds across Morocco on Sunday in search of suspects in the string of suicide bombings in Casablanca.

The raids came as grieving Moroccans nailed together coffins for the 28 victims of the blasts, which also killed 13 of the attackers and damaged a Spanish restaurant, a Jewish community center and cemetery, a hotel and the Belgian consulate.

"All Moroccans are victims of this," said Lamine El Metouate, wiping tears from his face after he put his dead son's body in its coffin at a morgue Sunday morning. "And it's not just Moroccans, but the whole world."

Agents have detained "several dozen" militants in Casablanca, Fez and Tangier on suspicion at least two Moroccan Islamic groups were behind the deadly blasts, officials said. Among the raid sites was Sidi Moumen, a working-class Casablanca neighborhood.

"The judicial police, ... as in any democratic country struck by blind terrorism, are continuing their operations against the networks that are already known by our services," a security official told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

Several officials said they could not give a precise figure on the detentions, which began Saturday, since the number was constantly in flux and the operations were being conducted in several cities.

The raids continued as King Mohammed VI was scheduled on Sunday to visit the blast sites and a hospital where most of the wounded were being cared for.

A diplomatic source, speaking on condition of anonymity, also said that American and French anti-terrorism experts had begun arriving in Casablanca on Saturday to assist with the investigation.

The city remained in shock on Sunday. There was a heavy military presence in the bombed areas, with green-uniformed riot police patrolling the streets or sitting in parked trucks.

At the city morgue, workers nailed together coffins and put some of the dead in an ambulance to transport them to cemeteries. A group of about 100 people, some of them crying, looked on.

The bombings were a blow to Morocco, which had largely escaped terrorist violence and had enjoyed an international image as a relaxed, peaceful tourist destination.

"This is the same thing as the Twin Towers in the United States," said Ahmed Chakir, a Casablanca taxi-driver who banged his fist on the dashboard in anger. "The Americans didn't think that it could happen, and neither did we."

The nation's newspapers expressed outrage at the attacks. Le Journal had the headline "The Horror" in bold letters on its front page; many of the papers featured graphic photographs of the ravaged bodies of victims.

Police, who set up checkpoints on roads into Casablanca, were trying to determine if the attackers were linked to a known extremist group Salafia Jihadia, which is accused of ties to al Qaeda. Another Moroccan group suspected is the Attakfir wal Hijra, the anonymous security official said.

Salafia Jihadia has been the object of police sweeps for months. About 100 people found to have ties with the homegrown group were in custody as recently as March, including a suspected leader — Abdelwaheb Rafiki, 30 — who once called al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden "a hero of the Muslim world."

The attacks, which came just four days after similar terror attacks on Western targets in the Saudi capital of Riyadh that killed 34 people, appeared to target mainly Jewish and Spanish interests. Spain was a leading U.S. ally in the war on Iraq.

Up to 4,000 Jews live in Morocco, and the kingdom is proud of the harmony that marks relations between its Jewish minority and Muslims.

The deadliest bombing ripped through the upscale Casa de Espana social club as clients were playing bingo or dining. Some 20 people were killed, including a guard whose throat was slit, said the club president.

Without directly implicating al Qaeda, the Moroccan government laid blame on international terrorism.

Islamic fundamentalists are well installed in Morocco, especially active at universities and in the grinding poverty of cities like Casablanca — Morocco's largest.

Militants were kept in check for decades under the late King Hassan II, who ruled for 38 years. However, militants have grown bolder as Mohammed VI, who took the throne in 1999, presses ahead with efforts to modernize and moves to democratize.

In April, the kingdom put off municipal elections over fears that fundamentalists could gain ground. In September legislative voting, the Islamic moderate Justice and Development Party tripled its seats to 42 in the 325 parliamentary chamber.

Moroccan security services suspect around 300 Moroccans spent time in al Qaeda training camps in Afghanistan. In an audiotape released in February, bin Laden himself described Morocco as one of several U.S. allies "ready for liberation."