Moroccan police set up road blocks and barricades on Thursday around the Casablanca district in bid to find accomplices of three suicide bombers who blew themselves up this week.
Two men were arrested, including one who entered a house and threatened to blow himself up if he was not given food, a police source said.
Residents were jittery, with some chasing one of the suspects detained on Thursday, but many left the el Farah district and most shops staying closed.
Interior Minister Chakib Benmoussa said on Wednesday that security forces were hunting three or four ”dangerous” elements following the suicide-bomb deaths 24 hours earlier.
The police source said one of the two detained men ”was arrested after he went into a house and threatened its occupants that he would blow himself up if they did not give him something to eat”.
”However, he was not carrying explosives and was overcome by security services who proceeded to question him.”
Police also confirmed that another suspect had been detained, but gave no details.
Residents told how they had surrounded one of the suspects.
”We saw the young man trying to clandestinely leave the district,” said Ahmed Choukhani, one of the chasers. ”We went after him and detained him before handing him over to police. He looked thin and tired, like someone who had been hiding.”
The three suspected militants who blew themselves on Tuesday were wanted in connection with a March 11 bombing at a Casablanca internet café staged by another suspected militant. — AFP
