Bomb Attack Hits Marrakesh

BBC reports:

A bomb attack in the main square in the Moroccan city of Marrakesh has killed at least 14 people and injured 20, some of them foreigners, officials say.

The explosion ripped through the Argana cafe in Djemaa el-Fna square, a popular tourist destination.

The interior ministry said evidence now pointed to a bomb attack after initial reports suggested a gas explosion.

Morocco has seen two months of protests against King Mohammed VI amid a tide of uprisings across the region.

The last major terrorist attack in Morocco was in 2003 in the city of Casablanca - 45 people, including a number of suicide bombers, were killed.

Moroccan government spokesman Khalid Naciri told French television that Thursday's casualties involved a number of nationalities but he would not confirm any as yet.

"We worked... on the hypothesis that this could... be accidental. But initial results of the investigation confirm that we are confronted with a true criminal act," he said.

An interior ministry statement added: "Analysis of the early evidence collected at the site... confirms the theory of an attack."