TWO bombers blew themselves up near an American cultural centre in Casablanca yesterday, five days after three similar suicide blasts in the city, sparking fears of a surge in Al-Qaeda terror in north Africa.

“Only the two bombers were killed,” said a witness. The first bomb went off outside the cultural centre and the second 60 yards down the street, close to the US consulate in the heart of Casablanca, Morocco’s largest city.

Earlier last week neighbouring Algeria had been targeted in two bombings that killed at least 23 people and wounded more than 160. Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, North Africa’s most dangerous terrorist group, claimed responsibility for both sets of attacks.

“There is no doubt they aimed at the US targets,” said a police source in Rabat, the Moroccan capital. “They made that statement with their own bodies.” They could not have got closer to the American buildings because of their security fortifications, he added.

Police arrested a third man as he tried to escape. He was also wearing an explosive jacket.

The Moroccan government said the bombers were “home-grown” terrorists with no links to international networks. But terrorism experts suspect that they are aligned to the Al-Qaeda group. Officials in Rabat said the bombers were connected to a ring that was dismantled last month. Among its members were would-be suicide bombers who planned to blow up foreign ships docking in Casablanca and to target hotels in Morocco’s main tourist cities.

American intelligence officials believe there are growing links between terrorist organisations in north Africa. The Algerian-based Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb was originally called the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat. It was created in 1998 and aligned itself with Osama Bin Laden’s network last year.

Ayman al-Zawahiri, Al-Qaeda’s deputy leader, publicly anointed the group as its representative in north Africa on the fifth anniversary of the September 11 attacks. It changed its name in January.

Concern is mounting among western intelligence agencies that the new grouping, which is estimated to have a core of several hundred potential terrorists, is showing signs of becoming a potent force.

Rear Admiral William McRaven, the head of the US Special Operations Command Europe, said last month: “The concern is that Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb want their reach to be larger than it is now. They are already somewhat regional and growing.”

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