A bomb killed 15 people including 10 foreigners in Morocco's bustling tourist destination of Marrakesh, state television said today, in an attack that bore the hallmark of Islamist militants.
The blast ripped through a cafe overlooking Marrakesh's Jamaa el-Fnaa square, a spot that is often packed with foreign tourists. A Reuters photographer said he saw rescuers pulling dismembered bodies from the wreckage.
State-run 2M television said the 15 dead comprised six French nationals, five Moroccans and four foreigners whose nationality it did not give.
"Analysis of the early evidence collected at the site of the blast that occurred on Thursday at a cafe in Marrakesh confirms the theory of an attack," the Interior Ministry said in a statement carried by the official MAP news agency.
Two residents in Marrakesh who were near the square told Reuters the explosion was carried out by a suicide bomber, but there was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.
If confirmed as the work of Islamist militants, the attack would be the first such major attack in Morocco since 2003, when suicide bombings in the commercial capital, Casablanca, killed more than 45 people.
Morocco's ruler, King Mohammed, has promised to reform the constitution to placate protesters who have been inspired by uprisings in other part of the Arab world. But a fresh round of protests is planned for this Sunday.
The latest blast is likely to hurt Morocco's tourism trade - a major source of revenue - which is already struggling to recover from the effects of the global downturn.
A doctor at a Marrakesh hospital said at least one of those killed was a French citizen, and that some of those injured had lost limbs in the blast.
"I heard a massive blast. The first and second floors of the building were destroyed," said one local woman, who did not want to be identified.
"Some witnesses said they have seen a man carrying a bag entering the cafe before the blast occurred."
The cafe is in the Marrakesh medina, or old city, which is designated by the United Nation's cultural arm as a World Heritage Site. It is usually packed with stalls, story-tellers and snake-charmers seeking to attract tourists.
"You can't find a more emblematic target than Jamaa el-Fnaa square," said a Frenchman who owns a restaurant in the city.
"With this attack and amid the worrying unrest in the region, tourism will hit the doldrums for some time," said the businessman, who did not want his name published.
The roof over the cafe's upstairs terrace was ripped off by the force of the explosion and pieces of plaster and electrical wires hung from the ceiling.
The body of one of the victims lay amid the rubble, covered by a blanket, with one hand sticking out. Blood stained the floor of the cafe red in several places.
"I heard a very loud blast in the square. It occurred inside Argana cafe. When I approached the scene, I saw shredded bodies being pulled out of the cafe," the Reuters photographer said.
"The first floor bore the brunt of the damage while the ground floor was almost intact ... There are a lot of police who, with forensics, are sifting through the debris."
Halim Saidi, a doctor at Marrakesh's Ibn Tofail Hospital, said one French national died before reaching the hospital and second foreigner died while undergoing treatment.
He said 18 of the wounded had been brought to his hospital, including eight Moroccans, seven French and two Swiss citizens.
"Five of the wounded foreigners are in serious condition. They have lost limbs because of the explosion, endured serious injuries to the abdomen or suffered major fractures.
The eight Moroccan nationals suffered "relatively minor injuries", he said.
There are no reports of any Irish citizens being injured in the blast.
King Mohammed ordered a speedy investigation into what he described as a "criminal explosion," MAP reported. An official source had earlier told Reuters it appeared the blast was caused by gas canisters in the cafe catching fire.
Security experts said the attack was in line with Islamist militants' previous attempts - most of them disrupted by security services - to undermine Morocco's rulers by targeting the tourism industry.
Last week, men claiming to be Moroccan members of al-Qaeda's north African wing appeared in a video posted on YouTube threatening to attack Moroccan interests.
A masked speaker, who identified himself as Abu Abdulrahman, said the planned attacks were to avenge the detention of Islamists by Moroccan authorities.
Reuters