Nine Casablanca bombers escape jail via tunnel

NINE radical Islamists jailed for their links to the 2003 Casablanca suicide bombings that killed 45 people broke out of a Moroccan top security jail yesterday, the Justice Ministry said.

The nine men escaped from Kenitra prison, 40km east of Rabat.

“All the measures have been taken to arrest the escaped detainees,” the ministry said, adding that the authorities were investigating how the prisoners broke free.

Sources said the prisoners escaped through a tunnel they dug out under their cells.

“They literally saw the light at the end of the tunnel in the early hours,” the source said.

The escapees left a letter, saying the breakout was the only solution to what they described as injustice in the prison.

Islamist prisoner rights advocacy group Ennassir said the jailbreak coincided with the beginning of a one-day protest hunger strike by about 1,000 Islamist prisoners held at several jails across Morocco, including Kenitra’s.

“Most of the escaped prisoners had been sentenced to life imprisonment for their links with 2003’s Casablanca bombings,” said Ennassir chairman Abderrahim Mohtad.

Mohtad said the prisoners were fasting to protest against mistreatment and repression by officials.