A blast ripped through a restaurant in downtown Marrakech, Morocco, killing at least 17 people, al Arabiya television reported, citing an unidentified security official who said it was caused by a suicide bomber.
The attack yesterday, which injured about 20 people according to Karim Taj, chief of staff for the North African nation’s communications minister, hit the Argana Restaurant in the Djemma el-Fna square, a popular tourist destination. Six French nationals were among the dead, Al Arabiya television said, without saying where it got the information.
“Killing innocent people in this way could be nothing but an act of terror,” Taj said in an interview yesterday.
The attack was the deadliest in Morocco since 2003, when suicide bombers simultaneously struck five sites in Casablanca, killing more than 40 people and wounding at least 100. It struck at the heart of Morocco’s tourism industry, which accounts for almost 10 percent of gross domestic product. Revenue from tourism was the biggest foreign-currency earner last year, drawing 56.6 billion dirhams ($7 billion).
“Acts of terrorism must not be tolerated wherever and whenever they occur,” U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in a statement released in Washington last night. French President Nicolas Sarkozy also condemned the act of terrorism, and United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expressed his “firm rejection of the use of indiscriminate violence against innocent civilians.”
Stocks Fall
Morocco’s MADEX Free Float Index (MOSEMDX) fell as much as 3.5 percent and declined 1.6 percent, the most since April 1, to 9,694.51 at the 3:30 p.m. close of trading in Casablanca yesterday.
“Foreigners are getting out,” Amine Larhrib, head of the international desk at CDG Capital Bourse, said in a telephone interview yesterday from Casablanca. “They’re afraid of getting stuck like they did in Egypt. This is just a normal reaction to the news, but I think this is an isolated incident.”
A series of bombings occurred in 2007 in Casablanca, including two that were detonated simultaneously outside the U.S. Consulate General and the American Language Center, according to the U.S. State Department website. It notes that “the potential for terrorist violence against U.S. citizens and interests remains high in Morocco.”
No U.S. Casualties
No U.S. casualties from the explosion have been reported, Liz Gracon, a U.S. public affairs officer, said yesterday in a telephone interview from Casablanca.
The popular protests that ousted Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak have spread to Morocco, though they have been smaller and more peaceful. Morocco’s King Mohammed VI pledged on March 9 to create a commission to review the country’s constitution by June and for a referendum to be held after that. He promised to allow religious freedom and more transparent justice.
Morocco “will confront this hideous criminal act” and is “determined to press ahead with its democratic project,” Taj said.
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