In the single-room shack in Casablanca that has been her home for 27 years, Rachida Raydi laments the loss of two of her seven children, who both ended their lives as suicide bombers.
Ayoub Raydi was one of three militants who blew themselves up on Tuesday in the Moroccan port city, less than a month after his brother, Abdelfettah, killed himself and injured four when he blew up an internet café.
”I hadn’t seen Ayoub for 10 months and Abdelfettah for nine months. I’m against terrorism,” their 46-year-old mother said.
Rachida, who was abandoned by her husband and now sells clothes to survive, lives in one room that serves as a bedroom, dining room, kitchen and even toilet. It is lit by a single light bulb.
”If Ayoub would have continued to live with me, I would have kept him from committing the irreparable,” she said.
The attacks earlier this week saw three militants blow themselves up as they were being chased by police, killing one police inspector and injuring seven others.
On March 11, Abdelfettah Raydi blew himself up, injuring four others, including a suspected accomplice, in one of the city’s internet cafés.
Moroccan officials have said they do not believe the two incidents are linked to Wednesday’s two suicide bombings in the Algerian capital, Algiers, which killed at least 33 people.
In the township where the Casablanca bombers’ families live, few are willing to talk to reporters and most insist they have no links to the attacks.
”I’ve got nothing to do with the person who blew himself up; I know nothing, I don’t have a mad son,” shouted Wardia Mentala from behind her door.
But her neighbours confirmed she was the mother of Mohamed, who was shot dead by police on Tuesday before he could blow himself up. They said she has been questioned by police several times.
A bit further along Douar Skouila, the township that is home to 2 300 families, the relatives of Mohamed Rachidi are no more forthcoming. ”Keep your condolences to yourself and leave if you want to stay alive,” shouted the sister of the first suicide bomber to explode himself on Tuesday.
Mohamed (37) was also implicated in the murder of a police officer in Casablanca in 2003.
Many of the area’s residents say they have had enough of the suspicions that have surrounded them since local youths carried out suicide attacks across Casablanca in May 2003, killing 45 people including the 12 bombers.
”Our life is already precarious and it infuriates me to hear that our neighbourhood is a nest of terrorists,” said 24-year-old Mohamed Harchi.
He is working, but noted that having the township’s address on their identity cards leave residents with little chance of finding work.
The falling rain gives the area an even more sinister air. The alleys are muddy, the sewers discharge black, foul-smelling water, and the children wade through it apparently regardless.
”It’s drugs that force these young people to act, not religion,” commented Rachid (28). ”They are desperate people who take psychotropic drugs.”
But Ahmed Mouchid, a 40-year-old maths teacher, does not share that view. ”It’s true we have here a reservoir of terrorists, but the causes lie in the lack of prospects, the idleness that is killing these young people,” he said. — Sapa-AFP