Eight on Trial in Paris over Casablanca Bombings
Pakistan Times Wire Service

PARIS: Eight men went on trial in Paris on Monday accused of being members of a terrorist cell that helped stage the 2003 Casablanca bombings which killed 45 people and left dozens injured.

The eight men -- a Turkish national and seven Moroccans or French nationals of Moroccan origin -- were arrested in a Paris suburb in 2004 and face charges of criminal conspiracy in relation with a terrorist undertaking.

They are accused of being members of the Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group (GICM), which is suspected of having links to Al-Qaeda and of involvement in the Madrid train bombings in 2004.

Mustapha Baouchi, 32, a Moroccan national considered the ringleader of the group, is said to have close ties with Nourredine Nafia, alias Abou Mouad, the commander of GICM who was jailed in Morocco for the bombings.

Casablanca, on Morocco's Atlantic seaboard, was rocked by a series of blasts on May 16, 2003, that killed 45 people including 12 suicide bombers.

Four Spaniards, three French nationals and an Italian were among the victims. French investigators say four of the defendants ran a grocery store in a Paris suburb that helped bankroll some of the GICM's activities.

Another defendant managed various businesses including a restaurant which was also allegedly involved in terrorist financing.

Some of the eight men on trial underwent training in camps in Afghanistan. The trial is scheduled to continue until June 20.●