Morocco's news agency reported authorities were holding at least 30 people but officials said while questioning went on, many were not under formal arrest in connection with the five bombings.
Authorities continued to question one of the attackers, who was captured still wearing undetonated explosives after he had been incapacitated by a nearby detonation in a hotel.
No claim of responsibility has come forward, though both Moroccan and Western authorities suspected al-Qaida or a related regional terrorist organization.
In Washington, U.S. President George W. Bush condemned the bombings, saying
"These acts of murder show, once again, that terrorism respects no boundaries nor borders." Bush added that these bombings "demonstrate that the war against terror goes on."
Morocco's Interior Minister Mostafa Sahel said the bomb attacks "bore the hallmarks of international terrorism."
Investigators said the five targets appear to have been a Spanish restaurant, an empty Belgian consulate, an empty Jewish social club, a Jewish cemetery and a hotel. Eyewitnesses described five blasts as occurring from about 9 to 9:30 p.m. local time.
Ten suicide bombers of a suspected group of 14 were among the dead.
At least 15 people were killed at one location, a Spanish restaurant called Casa de Espana near where the commercial interest section of the Spanish embassy is located, according to Spanish broadcast reports.
Spain, just across the Strait of Gibraltar from Morocco, retains two enclaves on the shore of the northern African country. Both nations claim a tiny, uninhabited island just off the coast and came to the brink of conflict last summer when a dozen Moroccan troops landed on Perejil (Parsley) Island.
The bombings came a few days after suicide bomb attacks on residential compounds in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, killing 34. The terrorist group al Qaida is widely assumed to have been responsible for those attacks.
Spain's Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar was kept informed of the information from the scene, Spanish media said. Spanish Foreign Minister Ana Palacio told Spanish National Radio that "the first thing to be done is to analyze, to know what the origin of this attack is and, of course, from that take the appropriate decisions." She asked that the public "react calmly."
Several Spanish opposition parties linked the bombings to their prime minister's support for U.S. President George W. Bush on the war in Iraq.
Jose Blanco, deputy head of Spain's opposition Socialist Party, said Saturday that "targeting Spanish interests means Islamic terrorism is focusing on Spain as one of the necessary targets." Leaders of the Unified Left and the Communist Party echoed the view, while government ministers denied any connection.
RNE Radio 1, in Madrid, reported that a witness at the Jewish Community Center site, Rafael Bermudez, said, "Very quickly there was panic. You heard the bombs and everything caught fire."
"There was blood everywhere. It was horrendous. There wasn't time to do anything," he said.
Moroccan Interior Minister Sahel and senior officials from Moroccan security services visited the scenes of destruction Friday night, including the Casa de Espana restaurant, the site with the highest number of victims. About 100 people were in the restaurant when the explosion there was detonated. Sahel, along with Minister Delegate of the Interior Fouad Ali Himma, also visited the explosion scene at the Belgian consulate, according to the MAP news agency.
On Saturday, Morocco's king traveled to Casablanca to hold a special meeting with ministers. MAP reported he ordered continued assistance for victims as well as efforts to restore security for Casablanca residents. The Moroccan government created a crisis team to deal with the situation.
Secretary of State Colin Powell said the United States would offer any assistance it could.
Condemnation of the bombings was also broad throughout the Middle East. The foreign minister of Morocco's eastern neighbor Algeria expressed solidarity and "strongly denounced this terrorist act," according to a ministry statement.
Egypt's foreign minister described the incident as "criminal schemes against the interests of the Arab nation," reported the Middle East News Agency. His counterpart in Israel added it proved "that terrorism can strike anywhere" and expresses condolences to the victims.
Saudi Crown Prince Abdallah, whose country was hit by similar suicide bombings earlier this week, telephoned Moroccan king Mohammed VI to condemn the Casablanca explosions.
Syrian President Bashar Assad said the bombings "serve the enemies of the Arab nation" and supported Morocco in fighting those who committed "this crime."
Lebanese Prime Minister Rafic Hariri expressed "shock" over the "terrorist attacks" which he said were "a challenged to the safeguarding of the esteemed Islamic identity from the misgivings and acts of violence, as well as from confusion and despair."
Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid-Reza Asefi expressed his government's sympathies and added, "Terrorism is against the very basis of Islamic teachings and in contradiction with humanitarian principles," according to the Islamic Republic News Agency. Iran has been accused by the United States of having sheltered senior members of al-Qaida, charges the Islamic republic has vigorously denied.
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