{"id":404902,"date":"2011-04-28T15:34:09","date_gmt":"2011-04-28T15:34:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/2011\/04\/28\/deadly-blast-in-marrakesh-square\/"},"modified":"2011-04-28T15:34:09","modified_gmt":"2011-04-28T15:34:09","slug":"deadly-blast-in-marrakesh-square","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/28\/deadly-blast-in-marrakesh-square\/","title":{"rendered":"Deadly blast in Marrakesh square"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><div readability=\"108.213226572\"><span><span>28 April 2011<\/span> <span>Last updated at<\/span> <span>11:34 ET<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<div readability=\"32\">\n<div>\n<div readability=\"7\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"holding\" src=\"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/0fbae2400723_de45-1.jpg.jpg\" alt=\"The damaged Argana cafe\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>Please turn on JavaScript.<\/strong> Media requires JavaScript to play.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p>Eyewitness Hugo Somersham-Jones: &#8220;Waiters tried to help injured&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p>The explosion ripped through the Argana cafe in Djemaa el-Fna square, a popular tourist destination.<\/p>\n<p>The interior ministry said evidence now pointed to a bomb attack after initial reports suggested a gas explosion.<\/p>\n<p>Morocco has seen two months of protests against King Mohammed VI amid a tide of uprisings across the region.<\/p>\n<p>The last major terrorist attack in Morocco was in 2003 in the city of Casablanca &#8211; 45 people, including a number of suicide bombers, were killed.<\/p>\n<p><span>&#8216;Sounded like a bomb&#8217;<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Moroccan government spokesman Khalid Naciri told French television that Thursday&#8217;s casualties involved a number of nationalities but he would not confirm any as yet.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We worked&#8230; on the hypothesis that this could&#8230; be accidental. But initial results of the investigation confirm that we are confronted with a true criminal act,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p>An interior ministry statement added: &#8220;Analysis of the early evidence collected at the site&#8230; confirms the theory of an attack.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>A medical source told AFP news agency that 11 of the dead were foreigners, including five women, but this has not been independently confirmed.<\/p>\n<p>Witnesses described hearing a huge blast that sent debris flying into the air.<\/p>\n<p>Briton Hugo Somersham-Jones told the BBC he was at his Marrakesh home, close to the square, when he heard the explosion.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It sounded like a bomb. I went outside and saw smoke and got to the cafe and saw falling masonry. I came out to the main square and saw the first floor of the cafe in ruins.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;People had fire extinguishers, trying to put out the fire, and others were pulling people out from the building &#8211; it was pretty bad.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Mr Somersham-Jones, a hotel owner who has been running his business in Marrakesh for six years, said the square was the main area where people congregate and that there had been a deadly gas explosion last year.<\/p>\n<p>Portuguese tourist Alexandre Carvalho told the Associated Press news agency that he had seen injured people being carried away.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I believe the injured were mostly tourists, judging by what they were wearing,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p>The UK Foreign Office said it was aware of the blast and that consular staff had been deployed to offer assistance to any British nationals.<\/p>\n<p>It advised UK nationals to stay away from the square.<\/p>\n<p>Djemaa el-Fna square is a Unesco World Heritage site and is popular with foreign tourists, particularly Europeans.<\/p>\n<p>Analysts say the blast could have a serious effect on Morocco&#8217;s important tourism sector.<\/p>\n<p>One French businessman told Reuters: &#8220;You can&#8217;t find a more emblematic target than Djemaa el-Fna square. With this attack and amid the worrying unrest in the region, tourism will be in the doldrums for some time.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><em>Send your pictures and videos to <strong>yourpics@bbc.co.uk<\/strong> or text them to <strong>61124<\/strong> (UK) or <strong>+44 7725 100 100<\/strong> (International). If you have a large file you can<\/em> <a href=\"http:\/\/bbcnewsupload.streamuk.com\/\">upload here<\/a><em>.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/news.bbc.co.uk\/1\/hi\/talking_point\/2780295.stm#yourpics\">Read the terms and conditions<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/0fbae2400723_de45-1.jpg-150x150.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>View post:<br \/>\n<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/go\/rss\/int\/news\/-\/news\/world-africa-13226117\" title=\"Deadly blast in Marrakesh square\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Deadly blast in Marrakesh square<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> 28 April 2011 Last updated at 11:34 ET Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-404902","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Deadly blast in Marrakesh square - Ghanamma.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/28\/deadly-blast-in-marrakesh-square\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Deadly blast in Marrakesh square - Ghanamma.com\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"28 April 2011 Last updated at 11:34 ET Please turn on JavaScript. 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