Poverty-stricken Morocco bomber served jail time – washingtonpost.com
Poverty-stricken Morocco bomber served jail time – washingtonpost.com
Poverty-stricken Morocco bomber served jail time
By Zakia Abdennebi
DOUAR ESCUELA, Morocco (Reuters) – Neighbors of a Moroccan suspected suicide bomber portray him as a religious man who tried in vain to lift his family out of poverty after his release from a prison term for membership of a militant group.
But no one in this fly-blown Casablanca slum raided overnight by police was able to explain why Abdelfattah Raydi detonated a belt of explosives in an Internet cafe on Sunday night, blowing himself to pieces and wounding four people.
The Moroccan government said the blast was a terrorist act, reflecting concerns around north Africa that political violence is spreading from Algeria, where Islamist groups have stepped up a bombing campaign inspired by al Qaeda.
Piles of uncollected garbage rot in the street where Raydi, 23, lived with his mother and five siblings.
Children brush off flies buzzing around their eyes.
“We are all poor here but Raydi’s family is the poorest and their situation is the hardest to endure,” said one woman.
She like other Neighbors asked to not be named, explaining that local government officials might mistake their sympathy for Raydi’s family as support for radical Islamists.
The residents spoke to Reuters on Tuesday, hours before six people were arrested in an overnight raid on Douar Escuela by police investigating Sunday’s blast. Three other people were held in a raid on another slum, residents and officials said.
Raydi was jailed for five years in 2003 when the government rounded up more than 2,000 radical Islamists after suicide bombings in which 45 people were killed in Casablanca that year.
King Mohammed pardoned him in 2005, cutting short the prison sentence imposed for membership of the group that carried out those blasts.
The 2003 attacks focused attention on religious groups preaching holy war to impressionable youngsters in slums.
The state later began a housing improvement scheme, hoping better conditions would reduce the appeal of radical Islamists to the 30 million population, 40 percent of whom are illiterate.
There is little sign of this effort on Raydi’s street.
The family home is a sparsely furnished 2 meter by 3 meter room. Neighbors said Raydi, the eldest son, used to sleep on the street to give space for his six siblings and his mother.
“Raydi and all his family are poor but religious, decent and nice people. They are always calm and gentle with Neighbors and anybody else,” said another woman.
Raydi’s father abandoned the family to live with a new wife elsewhere without giving his address, Neighbors said. Raydi sold orange juice to earn money. “His other brothers sell plastic bags in the market,” said a third neighbor.
Security officials said Raydi embraced an uncompromising version of Islam that permits political violence. They suspect him of becoming a foot soldier for al Qaeda in north Africa.
Police took in Raydi’s mother for questioning immediately after the blast. Neighbors are now looking after the children.
“None of the children is in school. Raydi was in school but dropped out at early stage,” said a neighbor.
