Marrakesh bomb suspects deny part in blast

Source: AFP

SALE, Morocco — Nine men accused of launching a bomb attack that ripped through a Marrakesh cafe packed with European tourists, killing 17, each denied their involvement at a trial hearing on Thursday.

Main suspect Adil El-Atmani and eight others have been charged with orchestrating the April 28 blast in Marrakesh's bustling Djemaa El-Fna square.

Their trial resumed in Sale near Rabat on Thursday, attended by the families of both the victims and the accused.

The hearing began with the questioning of suspect Hakim Dah who denied any part in the bombing while criticising the conditions under which he is being held in Sale prison. He did say however that he had made trips to Libya, Mauritania, Mali and Algeria.

"I met El-Atmani in Libya where we met three French tourists. The five of us then went to Mauritania," he told the court.

Dah said that in Nouakchott he took up a job in the mobile phone trade.

When the judge asked why he went to Libya, the accused said: "I emigrated illegally to find a job."

Each of the suspects in turn denied any involvement in the cafe blast whose victims included eight French nationals as well as citizens of Britain, Canada, Switzerland, Portugal and The Netherlands.

The suspects are accused of "seriously undermining public order, premeditated murder and laying an ambush, the possession of and making of explosives, and belonging to a banned religious group."

Abdessamad El Battar, an imam in Safi, southwestern Morocco, said he travelled to Mauritania in 2007 to "study Islam".

Atami, who worked in a shoe shop in Safi, initially admitted to his role in the bombing but later retracted his confession, claiming he had been set up.

Fellow suspect Mohamed Njim told the latest hearing: "We met in Turkey in 2007. El-Atmani told me that he wanted to go to Chechnya to carry out jihad and me, I returned to Greece."

Moroccan authorities had initially blamed Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) for the bombing.

But AQIM, behind a series of attacks and kidnappings in north Africa, denies responsibility.

The trial was adjourned to October 6.