20110430
reuters

MARRAKESH (Reuters) - Morocco was counting the cost to its vital tourism industry on Friday from an explosion at a busy Marrakesh cafe that killed 15 people in an attack described by the government as a terrorist act.

Moroccan officials have not said who was responsible for the Thursday blast. Western security analysts said it was likely to have been carried out by Islamist militants trying to damage the tourism industry on which the country depends.

The Interior Ministry said seven of the 15 dead had been identified and included two French citizens, two Canadians, a Dutch national and two Moroccans.

Israel's foreign ministry said two of the victims, a man and a woman, were Jews living in Shanghai and that the woman apparently had Israeli citizenship.

Standing outside the wrecked cafe in Jamaa el-Fnaa square, Morocco's best-known tourist spot, German tourist Julia Zashou and her mother sobbed as they looked at the site. They said they used to visit the venue frequently.

"We don't understand. Marrakesh is such a nice place," said Zashou. "What happened is a catastrophe for tourists."

The attack, in which 23 people were also wounded, is the deadliest Morocco has seen since suicide bombers killed 33 people in coordinated strikes on Casablanca eight years ago. There was no immediate claim of responsibility.

"Preliminary investigation ... suggests that this was a terrorist act caused by an explosive device," the official MAP news agency quoted Interior Minister Taieb Cherkaoui as saying.