Morocco cafe explosion kills 14

Explosion tears apart Argana cafe in Marrakech’s Jamaa el-Fna square, which is popular with foreign tourists An explosion in the Moroccan city of Marrakech has killed at least 14 people and injured 20 at a market square cafe popular with foreign tourists. Several foreigners were among the victims. The blast just before noon tore the facade off the two-storey Argana cafe, leaving awnings dangling. Bystanders dragged away bodies and tried to put out flames with fire extinguishers, witnesses said. The interior ministry said there was evidence the blast was a “criminal act”. A Moroccan government spokesman, Khalid Naciri, said that the dead came from different countries but did not say which ones. “We worked for more than an hour, maybe less, on the hypothesis that this could eventually be accidental. But initial results of the investigation confirm that we are confronted with a true criminal act,” Naciri said in an interview with France-24 television. British man Andy Birnie told Associated Press: “There was a huge bang and lots of smoke went up. There was debris raining down from the sky. Hundreds of people were running in panic, some towards the cafe, some away from the square. The whole front of the cafe is blown away.” Birnie, from north London, is on his honeymoon. “It was lunchtime so the square was very busy. We had just walked into the square but were shielded by some stalls.” A photographer said he saw rescue workers pulling dismembered bodies from the cafe. The Jamaa el-Fna square is a Unesco world heritage site known for its snake charmers and fire breathers. Marrakech’s old town is usually crowded with tourists. The state news agency, MAP, said an investigation was under way. An official source had earlier told Reuters it appeared the blast was caused by gas canisters in the cafe catching fire. Islamist militants staged a series of suicide bombings in Morocco’s commercial capital, Casablanca, in 2003. More than 45 people were killed. Morocco Mark Tran guardian.co.uk

Posted by on April 28, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.