Suicide bombers target US cultural centre in Morocco

CASABLANCA (MOROCCO): Two suicide bombers blew themselves up outside a US cultural centre in the Moroccan city of Casablanca on Saturday, security forces said.

One of the pair asked a policeman manning a checkpoint 100 meters from the Dar America cultural centre in Casablanca for access to the building. But when asked for a reason, he and the other bomber set off their explosives, security officials said.

A passerby was also injured in the blasts.

On Wednesday, Moroccan police said they were hunting for some 10 possible suicide bombers, a day after three suicide bombers blew themselves up in Casablanca as they were pursued by police.

A police official said Saturday's incident was "a desperate act in response to the successful crackdown in recent weeks by the police and security services to dismantle terrorist cells".

One of the trio who killed themselves on Tuesday was the brother of a man who died in a March 11 explosion at a Casablanca Internet cafe that sparked the latest police operation.

The latest blasts come days after suicide bomb attacks at two locations in the capital of neighbouring Algeria on Wednesday, killing 33 people and injuring more than 220. One of the blasts was outside the government headquarters.