CASABLANCA, 12 April 2007 — Moroccan security forces hunted for 10 possible suicide bombers yesterday, a day after three militants blew themselves up in Casablanca as they were chased by police. “We are searching Casablanca for about 10 extremely dangerous terrorists, as they are ready like those yesterday to blow themselves up,” police said as they released the identities of those who died on Tuesday.

Tuesday’s drama began with one man being shot by police as they surrounded a house before dawn in the El Fida district of the city. The man, identified as Mohamed Mentala, came out of the house carrying a sword and wearing an explosives belt. Police fired at him twice preventing him setting off the explosives though he died later of his wounds.

According to the police version of events, a second suspect came out onto the balcony of the house and seeing that he was surrounded, blew himself up. The same afternoon, a police inspector died after a third man blew himself up in the same district. Two other police officers and a child were also hurt.

In the final attack on Tuesday, five people were wounded, including two police officers, as a man blew himself up in the main street of the Farah district. All four were being sought by police in connection with an explosion in a Casablanca Internet cafe on March 11.

The first man to blow himself up was identified as Mohamed Rachidi, aged 37 wanted in connection with the 2003 murder of a Casablanca policeman. The second man was named as Ayoub Raidy, the brother of the man who was killed by an explosive he was carrying in the March 11 incident. The third man was not named.

Morocco’s newspapers, meanwhile, were united in their view of the incidents with one daily, Aujourd’hui le Maroc, saying the events amounted to a “world war.” Another, the Economiste, a business daily, blamed satellite television for the turn of events.

“Satellite television exposes the poorest in our towns to what’s happening on the other side of the planet and to events in the Middle East and this can lead to some copying tragic examples,” the paper said.

“Moroccan security forces are pursuing their search of a gang of people wearing explosive belts that threaten the safety of the citizens and the country’s security,” said leading pro-government Arabic-language Al Alam daily. Government officials declined to comment on the report, citing ongoing investigation.

A judicial source said yesterday that a “terrorist group is being formed and funded by Moroccans with the aim of carrying out bombings at Casablanca port and several police stations.” But Mohamed Darif, a specialist on Islamism in Morocco, told AFP that he found it “hard to imagine that this group did not have any foreign links.

“On the contrary, it seems that they apply the order given by Ayman Al-Zawahri, the No. 2 in Al-Qaeda, to blow yourself up rather than fall into the hands of the police,” he said. Al-Qaeda recently announced that it had set up a cell in North Africa.

The government says Raidy, a 23-year-unemployed, was leader of a ring of more than 50 radical Islamists that included an unknown number of suspected bombers. Security forces have detained more than 40 suspects since Raidy blew himself up.