{"id":405781,"date":"2011-04-28T20:28:55","date_gmt":"2011-04-28T20:28:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/2011\/04\/28\/14-dead-as-blast-rips-through-moroccan-cafe\/"},"modified":"2011-04-28T20:28:55","modified_gmt":"2011-04-28T20:28:55","slug":"14-dead-as-blast-rips-through-moroccan-cafe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/28\/14-dead-as-blast-rips-through-moroccan-cafe\/","title":{"rendered":"14 dead as blast rips through Moroccan cafe"},"content":{"rendered":"<div readability=\"96.1406711409\">\n<div readability=\"89.188302815\">\n<div readability=\"7\">\n<p>Explosion rips through Morocco cafe<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p><strong>STORY HIGHLIGHTS<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>NEW:<\/strong> 23 are wounded<\/li>\n<li>Blast appears to be result of an attack, interior ministry says<\/li>\n<li>A tourist heard a loud boom and saw the damaged terrace<\/li>\n<li>The explosion happened in the central part of Marrakesh<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p><strong>(CNN)<\/strong> &#8212; At least 14 people were killed and 23 were injured when an explosion Thursday tore through a cafe in the Moroccan city of Marrakesh, Interior Minister Taib Cherqaoui said, according to the state-run news agency, Maghreb Arabe Presse.<\/p>\n<p>Three Moroccans and 11 foreign nationals are among the dead, and an investigation is underway to identify the nationalities of all of the victims, Cherqaoui said. The wounded were taken to the Ibn Tofail University Hospital, the Ibn Sina Military Hospital and two private clinics, Cherqaoui said, according to the news agency.<\/p>\n<p>Initial clues indicate that the blast was the result of an attack, according to the news agency, citing the interior ministry.<\/p>\n<p>Several French nationals were among the wounded, and French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe condemned what he called a &#8220;barbarian terrorist attack, which nothing can justify.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Such an awful act can only bring indignation and unreserved condemnation. All light must be shed on this revolting crime, officials prosecuted, tried and punished,&#8221; said Juppe, who said French authorities will provide assistance to French nationals in Marrakesh.<\/p>\n<p>Witnesses told CNN the blast occurred at Cafe Argana in Place Jemaa el Fna, a popular bazaar and square that attracts thousands of tourists every year.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We were walking around the souks, right around the corner from Cafe Argana,&#8221; said a German tourist who was about 50 meters from the blast when it occurred. &#8220;We heard a gigantic boom, and everyone immediately starting running towards the square to see what happened.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The woman, who didn&#8217;t want her name used, told CNN the top floor and terrace of the cafe were &#8220;ripped apart&#8221; by the blast, which caused hundreds of people to run from the area.<\/p>\n<p>The witness said rescuers were dispatched to the scene and the news agency said police had opened an investigation to determine its cause.<\/p>\n<p>In Washington, the State Department said it had no information about whether any Americans may have been among the casualties and urged Americans to avoid the square &#8220;in order not to impede the Moroccan authorities&#8217; rescue operations and investigation.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>It was not immediately known whether the attack was linked to unrest across the Arab world or militant activity, although there have been protests in Morocco lately.<\/p>\n<p>The blast comes four days after thousands of Moroccans held a peaceful demonstration nationwide, calling Sunday for a radical overhaul of the country&#8217;s governance before a new constitution is unveiled in June by King Mohammed VI.<\/p>\n<p>The march was organized by the Facebook youth movement Fevrier 20. The group said its members would not accept the draft constitution because it was written by the king&#8217;s own people. It denounced his decision to refer the new constitution to a committee he appointed.<\/p>\n<p>King Mohammed announced last month he would give up some of his wide-scale powers and make the judiciary independent &#8212; the latter a particularly hot subject in Morocco.<\/p>\n<p>Calls for an end to political detention and questions about the king&#8217;s personal business activities were also on protesters&#8217; banners. There was visible resentment at the royal family&#8217;s business operations, controlled by its holding company SNI. There were also groups protesting about the prices of basic household items.<\/p>\n<p>CNN&#8217;s Mitra Mobasherat contributed to this report<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/p>\n<p>See more here:<br \/>\n<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/rss.cnn.com\/~r\/rss\/edition_africa\/~3\/3CMuoh2zVDM\/index.html\" title=\"14 dead as blast rips through Moroccan cafe\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">14 dead as blast rips through Moroccan cafe<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> Explosion rips through Morocco cafe STORY HIGHLIGHTS NEW: 23 are wounded Blast appears to be result of an attack, interior ministry says A tourist heard a loud boom and saw the damaged terrace The explosion happened in the central part of Marrakesh (CNN) &#8212; At least 14 people were killed and 23 were injured when an explosion Thursday tore through a cafe in the Moroccan city of Marrakesh, Interior Minister Taib Cherqaoui said, according to the state-run news agency, Maghreb Arabe Presse. Three Moroccans and 11 foreign nationals are among the dead, and an investigation is underway to identify the nationalities of all of the victims, Cherqaoui said<\/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-405781","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>14 dead as blast rips through Moroccan cafe - 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\/14-dead-as-blast-rips-through-moroccan-cafe\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"14 dead as blast rips through Moroccan cafe - Ghanamma.com\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"Explosion rips through Morocco cafe STORY HIGHLIGHTS NEW: 23 are wounded Blast appears to be result of an attack, interior ministry says A tourist heard a loud boom and saw the damaged terrace The explosion happened in the central part of Marrakesh (CNN) -- At least 14 people were killed and 23 were injured when an explosion Thursday tore through a cafe in the Moroccan city of Marrakesh, Interior Minister Taib Cherqaoui said, according to the state-run news agency, Maghreb Arabe Presse. Three Moroccans and 11 foreign nationals are among the dead, and an investigation is underway to identify the nationalities of all of the victims, Cherqaoui said\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ghanamma\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ghanamma\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/28\/14-dead-as-blast-rips-through-moroccan-cafe\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/28\/14-dead-as-blast-rips-through-moroccan-cafe\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"\",\"@id\":\"\"},\"headline\":\"14 dead as blast rips through Moroccan cafe\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-04-28T20:28:55+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/28\/14-dead-as-blast-rips-through-moroccan-cafe\/\"},\"wordCount\":594,\"commentCount\":0,\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/28\/14-dead-as-blast-rips-through-moroccan-cafe\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/28\/14-dead-as-blast-rips-through-moroccan-cafe\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/28\/14-dead-as-blast-rips-through-moroccan-cafe\/\",\"name\":\"14 dead as blast rips through Moroccan cafe - Ghanamma.com\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2011-04-28T20:28:55+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/28\/14-dead-as-blast-rips-through-moroccan-cafe\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/\",\"name\":\"Ghanamma.com\",\"description\":\"News In Ghana - Latest Ghana News Headlines\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"14 dead as blast rips through Moroccan cafe - Ghanamma.com","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/28\/14-dead-as-blast-rips-through-moroccan-cafe\/","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_title":"14 dead as blast rips through Moroccan cafe - Ghanamma.com","twitter_description":"Explosion rips through Morocco cafe STORY HIGHLIGHTS NEW: 23 are wounded Blast appears to be result of an attack, interior ministry says A tourist heard a loud boom and saw the damaged terrace The explosion happened in the central part of Marrakesh (CNN) -- At least 14 people were killed and 23 were injured when an explosion Thursday tore through a cafe in the Moroccan city of Marrakesh, Interior Minister Taib Cherqaoui said, according to the state-run news agency, Maghreb Arabe Presse. Three Moroccans and 11 foreign nationals are among the dead, and an investigation is underway to identify the nationalities of all of the victims, Cherqaoui said","twitter_creator":"@ghanamma","twitter_site":"@ghanamma","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/28\/14-dead-as-blast-rips-through-moroccan-cafe\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/28\/14-dead-as-blast-rips-through-moroccan-cafe\/"},"author":{"name":"","@id":""},"headline":"14 dead as blast rips through Moroccan cafe","datePublished":"2011-04-28T20:28:55+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/28\/14-dead-as-blast-rips-through-moroccan-cafe\/"},"wordCount":594,"commentCount":0,"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/28\/14-dead-as-blast-rips-through-moroccan-cafe\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/28\/14-dead-as-blast-rips-through-moroccan-cafe\/","url":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/28\/14-dead-as-blast-rips-through-moroccan-cafe\/","name":"14 dead as blast rips through Moroccan cafe - Ghanamma.com","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/#website"},"datePublished":"2011-04-28T20:28:55+00:00","author":{"@id":""},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/28\/14-dead-as-blast-rips-through-moroccan-cafe\/"]}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/","name":"Ghanamma.com","description":"News In Ghana - Latest Ghana News Headlines","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/405781","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=405781"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/405781\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=405781"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=405781"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=405781"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}