CASABLANCA, Morocco, May 17 (UPI) -- Morocco's largest and most famous city on Saturday dug through the rubble and worked to identify victims after a series of apparently coordinated explosions late Friday killed at least 41 and wounded another 100 in downtown Casablanca.
Morocco's news agency also reported authorities had arrested at least 30 people in connection with the five bombings, one of them apparently a suicide bomber who was only wounded. Further details were not available and no claim of responsibility has come forward, though both Moroccan and Western authorities believe the al-Qaida terror network is a strong suspect.
Morocco's Interior Minister Mostafa Sahel said the bomb attacks "bore the hallmarks of international terrorism."
Investigators on the scene were still piecing together what happened, but the targets appear to have been a Spanish restaurant, the Belgian consulate, a Jewish social club, and a Jewish cemetery and a hotel. Eyewitnesses described five blasts from about 9 to 9:30 p.m., apparently by suicide bombers wearing grenades and other explosives.
A list that identifies the victims was not yet available, but 10 suicide bombers were among the dead.
At least 15 people were killed at one location, a Spanish restaurant called Casa de Espana near where the commercial interest section of the Spanish embassy is located, according to Spanish broadcast reports. Spain, just across the Strait of Gibraltar from Morocco, retains two enclaves on the shore of the northern African country. Both nations claim a tiny, uninhabited island just off the coast and came to the brink of conflict last summer when a dozen Moroccan troops landed on Perejil (Parsley) Island.
A sixth explosion was reported Saturday in Casablanca, but Morocco's Information Minister Nabil Benadallah called it "only rumors ... a tendency to exaggerate a number of events that have no link with yesterday's events."
Benadallah also declared Morocco would take "all measures to eliminate all forms of terrorism," according to the Moroccan news agency MAP.
"It is the Moroccan social project led by His Majesty King Mohammed VI which is being targeted," he said. "This project is based upon the values of modernity, democracy, tolerance, openness and social justice. ... Morocco will proceed with its modern and democratic project with all determination."
Observers pointed out that the bombings came a few days after suicide bomb attacks on residential compounds in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, killing 34. The terrorist group al Qaida is widely assumed to have been responsible for those attacks.
Spain's Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar was kept informed overnight of the information from the scene, Spanish media said. Spanish Foreign Minister Ana Palacio told Spanish National Radio that "the first thing to be done is to analyze, to know what the origin of this attack is and, of course, from that take the appropriate decisions." She asked that the public "react calmly."
Several Spanish opposition parties linked the bombings to their prime minister's support for U.S. President George W. Bush on the war in Iraq. Jose Blanco, deputy head of Spain's opposition Socialist Party, said Saturday that "targeting Spanish interests means Islamic terrorism is focusing on Spain as one of the necessary targets." Leaders of the Unified Left and the Communist Party echoed the view, while government ministers denied any connection.
Nevertheless Blanco, whose party represents the largest opposition group, then called on the Aznar's government to "withdraw the Spanish forces from Iraq."
RNE Radio 1, in Madrid, reported that a witness at the Jewish Community Center site, Rafael Bermudez, said, "Very quickly there was panic. You heard the bombs and everything caught fire."
"There was blood everywhere. It was horrendous. There wasn't time to do anything," he said.
Moroccan Interior Minister Sahel and senior officials from Moroccan security services visited the scenes of destruction Friday night, including the Casa de Espana restaurant, the site with the highest number of victims. About 100 people were in the restaurant when the explosion there was detonated. Sahel, along with Minister Delegate of the Interior Fouad Ali Himma, also visited the explosion scene at the Belgian consulate, according to the MAP news agency.
On Saturday, Morocco's king traveled to Casablanca to hold a special meeting with ministers. MAP reported he ordered continued assistance for victims as well as efforts to restore security for Casablanca residents. The Moroccan government created a crisis team to deal with the situation.
Asked about the identity of the suicide bombers, the minister said that at this point in time no accurate identification of the terrorists was yet available to him.
In Washington, U.S. President George W. Bush condemned the bombings.
"These acts of murder show, once again, that terrorism respects no boundaries nor borders," Bush said in a statement. "Casablanca is a city well-known for its tolerance and its diverse range of religious and ethnic communities."
Bush added that these bombings "demonstrate that the war against terror goes on."
Secretary of State Colin Powell said the United States would offer any assistance it could.
Condemnation of the bombings was also broad throughout the Middle East. The foreign minister of Morocco's eastern neighbor Algeria expressed solidarity and "strongly denounced this terrorist act," according to a ministry statement.
Egypt's foreign minister described the incident as "criminal schemes against the interests of the Arab nation," reported the Middle East News Agency. His counterpart in Israel added it proved "that terrorism can strike anywhere" and expresses condolences to the victims.
Saudi Crown Prince Abdallah, whose country was hit by similar suicide bombings earlier this week, telephoned Moroccan king Mohammed VI to condemn the Casablanca explosions.
Syrian President Bashar Assad said the bombings "serve the enemies of the Arab nation" and supported Morocco in fighting those who committed "this crime."
Lebanese Prime Minister Rafic Hariri expressed "shock" over the "terrorist attacks" which he said were "a challenged to the safeguarding of the esteemed Islamic identity from the misgivings and acts of violence, as well as from confusion and despair."
Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid-Reza Asefi expressed his government's sympathies and added, "Terrorism is against the very basis of Islamic teachings and in contradiction with humanitarian principles," according to the Islamic Republic News Agency. Iran has been accused by the United States of having sheltered senior members of al-Qaida, charges the Islamic republic has vigorously denied.
(With reporting by Hussein Majdoubi in Madrid, Dalal Saoud in Beirut, Lebanon, Modher Amin in Tehran, Iran, and Chris H. Sieroty in Washington.)
