Bomb kills 16 including 10 foreigners in Morocco

MARRAKESH, Apr 29 (Reuters): Morocco said a bomb that killed at least 16 people, including 10 foreigners, in its busiest tourist destination was a terrorist act, the interior minister said. The blast ripped through a cafe overlooking Marrakesh's Jamaa el-Fnaa square, a spot often packed with foreign tourists. Interior Minister Taieb Cherkaoui said 14 people were killed and 23 wounded in the deadliest attack Morocco has seen since 12 suicide bombers killed 33 members of the public in coordinated strikes on the business hub Casablanca eight years ago. "Preliminary investigation ... suggests that this was a terrorist act caused by an explosive device," the official MAP news agency quoted Cherkaoui as saying. Security experts said the attack bore all the hallmarks of a plot by Islamist militants. "The majority of plots are detected in their early stages because Moroccan authorities retain a very effective network of informants right down to street level," said Anna Murison of Exclusive Analysis, a consultancy. "However, the regular recurrence of plots ... mean it is likely that a few will slip through the net," she said.