CASABLANCA, Morocco (AP) -- Three suspected terrorists blew themselves up as police were closing in Tuesday, and another suspect was shot dead by police while he was preparing to detonate his explosives, authorities said.
A police officer was killed and another was injured. A young child also was injured, officials said.
The explosions in Casablanca, weeks after the bombing of an Internet cafe in the city, promised to further rattle the North African kingdom whose first high-profile brush with Islamic terrorism came in five suicide bombings in the city in May 2003.
Moroccan authorities responded to the 2003 attacks, which left 45 people dead, with the arrest of thousands of alleged Islamic militants -- some accused of working with al Qaeda to plot strikes in Morocco and abroad. At least two of those killed Tuesday were suspected of links to those attacks.
Parliamentary elections are scheduled for September. The opposition Justice and Development Party, an Islamic group, is expected to win the most votes.
Tuesday's violence started when police, acting on a tip, surrounded a four-story apartment building in the working-class Hay Farah neighborhood of Casablanca where the suspected terrorists were holed up, officials said.
The suspects were thought to have links to last month's cyber cafe bombing.
One of the bombers who killed himself, Ayyoub Raydi, was the brother of the cafe bomber, Abdelfettah Raydi, an Interior Ministry official said. The official asked that he not be named, citing ministry policy.
After police surrounded the building before dawn Tuesday, one of the suspects fled to the roof, where he blew himself up, said a police official on the scene who refused to give his name, saying he was not authorized to do so. Morocco's official MAP news agency identified that bomber as Mohamed Rachidi.
A second man appeared to be on the verge of also detonating explosives, fumbling with his clothes, when a police sniper shot him, officials said. The suspect later died of his wounds. He was identified by police as Mohamed Mentala. Mentala was carrying 4 kilograms (nearly 9 pounds) of explosives, the Interior Ministry official said.
Mentala and Rachidi had been sought by police for alleged involvement in the 2003 suicide bombings in Casablanca, the Interior Ministry official said. MAP said Rachidi, 37, was part of a terrorist cell involved in the killing of a Casablanca police official in 2003.
Ayyoub Raydi blew himself up in the afternoon as police were searching the neighborhood for him, officials said. A bloody pair of legs were seen lying in the middle of a road after that explosion. Police covered up the legs, shorn off at the knees, with pieces of cardboard. Broken glass and charred debris littered the street.
A police officer was killed and another seriously injured in that blast, the Interior Ministry official said. A 7-year-old boy was hospitalized with light injuries, the official said.
Police cordoned off the area, erecting metal barriers to keep thousands of onlookers back.
In the evening, a fourth person detonated his explosives in the middle of a boulevard, said a police official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly.
The MAP news agency said the blast injured five people. It gave no details.
"We all thought that the guy had gone the other way -- and then Kablam! -- there was this explosion behind us," said a shopkeeper who gave his name only as Saad. "This is horrible. There's no trust here anymore, because they [the bombers] can get so close to you."
Investigations of the March 11 cafe bombing led police to a wider suspected plot to attack the port in Casablanca, which is Morocco's largest city, as well as police stations and tourist sites in Morocco.
In that blast, bomber Abdelfettah Raydi detonated his charge when the cyber cafe's owner caught him surfing jihadist Web sites. He was killed, and four others were injured.
Authorities say the subsequent investigation uncovered a larger plot that involved at least 30 people. The group had amassed dozens of kilograms of homemade explosives in a Casablanca apartment.
Police have so far arrested 31 suspects, who have been questioned by judges in preliminary court hearings. Raydi and many other suspects were among some 2,000 arrested after the 2003 bombings, but were later released from prison under a royal pardon.
Moroccan authorities have said they do not believe Raydi's group had links to international terrorist networks.
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
A police officer was killed and another was injured. A young child also was injured, officials said.
The explosions in Casablanca, weeks after the bombing of an Internet cafe in the city, promised to further rattle the North African kingdom whose first high-profile brush with Islamic terrorism came in five suicide bombings in the city in May 2003.
Moroccan authorities responded to the 2003 attacks, which left 45 people dead, with the arrest of thousands of alleged Islamic militants -- some accused of working with al Qaeda to plot strikes in Morocco and abroad. At least two of those killed Tuesday were suspected of links to those attacks.
Parliamentary elections are scheduled for September. The opposition Justice and Development Party, an Islamic group, is expected to win the most votes.
Tuesday's violence started when police, acting on a tip, surrounded a four-story apartment building in the working-class Hay Farah neighborhood of Casablanca where the suspected terrorists were holed up, officials said.
The suspects were thought to have links to last month's cyber cafe bombing.
One of the bombers who killed himself, Ayyoub Raydi, was the brother of the cafe bomber, Abdelfettah Raydi, an Interior Ministry official said. The official asked that he not be named, citing ministry policy.
After police surrounded the building before dawn Tuesday, one of the suspects fled to the roof, where he blew himself up, said a police official on the scene who refused to give his name, saying he was not authorized to do so. Morocco's official MAP news agency identified that bomber as Mohamed Rachidi.
A second man appeared to be on the verge of also detonating explosives, fumbling with his clothes, when a police sniper shot him, officials said. The suspect later died of his wounds. He was identified by police as Mohamed Mentala. Mentala was carrying 4 kilograms (nearly 9 pounds) of explosives, the Interior Ministry official said.
Mentala and Rachidi had been sought by police for alleged involvement in the 2003 suicide bombings in Casablanca, the Interior Ministry official said. MAP said Rachidi, 37, was part of a terrorist cell involved in the killing of a Casablanca police official in 2003.
Ayyoub Raydi blew himself up in the afternoon as police were searching the neighborhood for him, officials said. A bloody pair of legs were seen lying in the middle of a road after that explosion. Police covered up the legs, shorn off at the knees, with pieces of cardboard. Broken glass and charred debris littered the street.
A police officer was killed and another seriously injured in that blast, the Interior Ministry official said. A 7-year-old boy was hospitalized with light injuries, the official said.
Police cordoned off the area, erecting metal barriers to keep thousands of onlookers back.
In the evening, a fourth person detonated his explosives in the middle of a boulevard, said a police official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly.
The MAP news agency said the blast injured five people. It gave no details.
"We all thought that the guy had gone the other way -- and then Kablam! -- there was this explosion behind us," said a shopkeeper who gave his name only as Saad. "This is horrible. There's no trust here anymore, because they [the bombers] can get so close to you."
Investigations of the March 11 cafe bombing led police to a wider suspected plot to attack the port in Casablanca, which is Morocco's largest city, as well as police stations and tourist sites in Morocco.
In that blast, bomber Abdelfettah Raydi detonated his charge when the cyber cafe's owner caught him surfing jihadist Web sites. He was killed, and four others were injured.
Authorities say the subsequent investigation uncovered a larger plot that involved at least 30 people. The group had amassed dozens of kilograms of homemade explosives in a Casablanca apartment.
Police have so far arrested 31 suspects, who have been questioned by judges in preliminary court hearings. Raydi and many other suspects were among some 2,000 arrested after the 2003 bombings, but were later released from prison under a royal pardon.
Moroccan authorities have said they do not believe Raydi's group had links to international terrorist networks.
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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