VZCZCXYZ0019
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHCL #0079/01 1021510
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
O 121510Z APR 07
FM AMCONSUL CASABLANCA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 7687
INFO RUEHAS/AMEMBASSY ALGIERS 2890
RUEHEG/AMEMBASSY CAIRO 0775
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON 0275
RUEHMD/AMEMBASSY MADRID 3727
RUEHNK/AMEMBASSY NOUAKCHOTT 2254
RUEHRB/AMEMBASSY RABAT 7953
RUEHTU/AMEMBASSY TUNIS 2016
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS 0552

C O N F I D E N T I A L CASABLANCA 000079 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR NEA/MAG, INR/NESA/NAP 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/11/2017 
TAGS: MO PGOV PINR PREL
SUBJECT: CASABLANCA ON THE MORNING AFTER 
 
REF: A) CASABLANCA 000064 
     B) 06 CASABLANCA 000409 
 
Classified By: Principal Officer Douglas C. Greene for Reasons 1.4 
(b), (d). 
 
¶1. (C) Summary: Tuesday's events in Casablanca continue to 
reverberate locally, provoking comment and concern at all levels in 
the city.  The events, as described by police sources here, are now 
broadly known.  Police continue to search for more suspects with 
possible links to Tuesday's incidents and the March 11 cyber caf 
bombing.  As a precautionary measure, security officials are 
enforcing strict security measures in public buildings and stationing 
roadblocks around the city.   Reports of near riots against the 
police in the neighborhood of al-Fida as a reaction to a perception 
of an ineffectual system of security have diminished in the last 
36-hours. End Summary. 
 
Details from the Casablanca Police 
 
¶2.  (C) Following a tip, in the early morning hours of April 10, 
Moroccan security forces identified three terror suspects attending 
prayers at a local mosque.  Police followed the suspects to a rented 
apartment in the al-Fida neighborhood where they closed in on the 
group.  One suspect, according to reports, exited the building 
brandishing a sword as he rushed the police.  Police shot and fatally 
wounded the suspect who was later found to be wearing nine pounds of 
explosives.  At the same time, a second suspect moved to the roof of 
the building where he blew himself up after realizing escape was 
unlikely.  Police reported that these suspects were wanted for 
alleged involvement in the May 2003, Casablanca bombings that killed 
45 people.  Another suspect escaped the building at approximately the 
same time, also wearing an explosive device.  This suspect, 
identified as Ayyoub Raydi, brother of March 11 cyber caf suicide 
bomber Abdelfattah Raydi, detonated his belt at a police checkpoint 
in the early afternoon killing himself, a police officer, and 
wounding several witnesses, including a child.  Police later 
identified a fourth suspect linked to the group who detonated 
explosives he was wearing in the middle of a busy boulevard wounding 
eight, two seriously. 
 
¶3.  (C) Police linked all four suspects to a group responsible for 
the March 11 bombing at an internet caf in the slums of Sidi Moumen. 
 The police reported that the internet caf suicide bomber, 
Abdelfettah Raydi, may have been the leader of a ring of Islamic 
radicals with plans to attack Moroccan government offices and other 
targets in the country.  Since the March 11 attack, police have 
rounded up more than 30-suspected members of Raydi's group, many of 
them beneficiaries of royal amnesty (ref A), like Raydi himself. 
According to official press reports, early Thursday, police announced 
the arrest two more suspects who may have connections to the Raydi 
group.  Also on Thursday, the Ministry of the Interior announced that 
there may be three or four more suspects at large. 
 
¶4.  (C) The GOM and local authorities were careful to describe the 
bombers as unconnected to any international rings but instead labeled 
them as homegrown and Moroccan funded.  Moroccan experts on Islamic 
extremism, however, have publicly challenged that notion in the past 
24 hours, saying that the locals involved could not develop such an 
extensive network or amass the weapons and explosives on their own, 
especially while under the close surveillance to which many have been 
subject for some time. 
 
Developments on the Ground 
 
¶5.  (C) After Tuesday's bombings, police set up roadblocks and 
checkpoints around the city.  We have heard reports that more 
government buildings are requiring security checks in the wake of the 
attacks.  We also understand that public hospitals, for example, that 
previously had no security checks, now have strict screening 
measures. Western-associated hotels in Casablanca (like the Hyatt) 
now have extensive pre-checks, including metal detectors, at 
entrances.  At 2 p.m., the slow line to pass through the metal 
detector at the Hyatt was 15 persons deep. 
 
¶6. (C) City authorities have gone to great lengths to paint a picture 
of a brave and active population, cooperating with security 
authorities in the fight against terrorism.  However, in a 
neighborhood that was once know for low crime, citizens of al-Fida 
are now afraid and blame police for not keeping the terrorists at 
bay.  We have heard reports that local residents have been harassing 
the police since the incident, accusing them of not performing their 
job.  In addition, there were reports of near riots during and after 
the initial standoff with the suspects, early Tuesday morning. 
Consulate's FSNI visited the area after the explosions and was told 
by those from the neighborhood that locals were ready to apprehend 
the suspects themselves when police held back in an attempt to take 
the suspects alive.  The terrorists apparently had rented an 
apartment, in this once quiet neighborhood, approximately one to two 
months ago to avoid detection and frequent sweeps of areas notorious 
for harboring extremists in the past. 
 
Royal Visit 
 
¶7.  (C) One day after the bombings, King Mohammed VI visited to two 
hospitals in Casablanca treating security officers and civilians 
wounded in the incidents.  The King thanked the wounded civilians for 
their courage in the face of danger, paid homage to the wounded 
police officers, and offered condolences to the family of the police 
inspector killed by the bomber in the line of duty.  In addition, he 
made it clear that officers would be well cared for if wounded while 
trying to protect the kingdom from the actions of terrorists.  Each 
wounded security officer will receive 250,000 Moroccan dirhams (USD 
30,000) and a royal decoration for his efforts in stopping the 
terrorists.  The amount to be given to the family of the deceased 
officer has not been disclosed but rumors have estimates in the 
millions of dirhams. 
 
¶8.  (C) Comment: There is considerable concern in Casablanca that a 
number of terror suspects associated with this cell are still at 
large and prepared to detonate explosive devices at any time.  There 
is concern too, among Moroccans we speak to, that the GOM is 
reluctant to concede that the group may be linked to an international 
terrorist organization.  Fear of being seen as a target for 
international terrorists could have an effect on Morocco's vital 
tourist industry, seriously affecting its economy.  However, 
international terrorist connections cannot be ruled out and according 
to local experts, indeed should not. End Comment 
 
GREENE