20110430
reuters

PARIS (Reuters) - An explosion that killed 15 people in Marrakesh was triggered by a remote control device, not a suicide bomber as previous reports suggested, France's interior minister said in an interview published on Saturday.

The blast on Thursday ripped through a popular cafe overlooking Marrakesh's Jamaa el-Fnaa square at lunchtime on Thursday. Western security analysts attributed the attack to Islamist militants bent on ruining Morocco's tourism industry.

Two residents at the scene said they saw a suicide bomber. An Arabic news web site said the attack was committed by a suicide bomber who had recently got out of prison. But Moroccan officials have not said who was responsible.

"Contrary to what was being said earlier, there was no suicide bomber," Claude Gueant told weekly newspaper Le Journal du Dimanche. "Somebody dropped a bag on the ground and the bomb was detonated remotely."

The bomb contained nails, ammonium nitrate and a high explosive called TATP that was also used in a series of bombings on the Paris underground system in 1995, he said.

The attack increased the challenges facing Morocco's King Mohammed at a time when he is trying to prevent uprisings elsewhere in the Arab world from reaching his country, which is usually seen as a haven of stability in a volatile region.

Gueant said seven of the 15 dead were French nationals but that the attack was not aimed at France.

Moroccan officials said on Friday that they had identified seven foreigners among the dead including two French nationals, two Canadians, a Dutch national and two Moroccans.

"I have spoken to my Moroccan counterpart who explained that identification was difficult because some of the bodies were very badly damaged," he said.