CASABLANCA, May 17: Residents of Casablanca were gripped by fear, anger and disbelief on Saturday after a series of deadly bomb attacks scattered debris and splattered blood across this bustling Moroccan city.

Devastation and desolation stretched out across the Atlantic coast city, brutally ripping Moroccans away from a week of joyful festivities that had celebrated the birth of King Mohammed VI’s first son.

Residents in the city centre, who gathered to witness the carnage, were simply stunned, many dumbfounded that such murderous acts could be carried out in their neighbourhood.

“I heard a loud explosion and I thought that it was a gas tank exploding in the house next door. But when I went into the street, I discovered the horror of the terrorist attack that struck the Casa de Espana,” Hamid told AFP.

“It’s a bloodbath,” the 40-year-old repeated time and again as ambulances, sirens wailing, ferried the wounded to the city’s main hospital.

At least 18 bodies have been pulled so far from the debris that used to be Casa de Espana, a Spanish cultural centre and restaurant where about 100 people were dining when the blast ripped through the room.

In a cafe near the attack on the Belgian consulate, Moroccans bristled with anger.

“Morocco is targetted but the terrorists, do they realise that the victims of their acts have nothing to do with politics?” the barman Mohamed fumed.

A client could barely contain his fury.

“It is shameful. My identity as an Arab and as a Muslim has been wounded. Look, the proof is there, arabs are killing arabs. This terrorism is unacceptable. Islam is against this,” he blasted.

At the many blast sites, distraught families desperate for news of their missing relatives and friends tried to storm the police security cordons to search for their loved ones.

A sobbing woman fainted. Someone had just told her that her brother was taken to the hospital.

“Is he hurt, is he dead? What horror, oh my God,” she cried, raising her arms to the sky.

The same scene of desolation spread across the city, even at the city’s main Averroes hospital where most of the injured were being treated.

The halls were packed with anxious faces all seeking news of their kin.

“Help me. I am an old woman. I have a bad heart and I am diabetic. My daughter is here. Tell me, is she hurt or is she dead,” a woman pleaded, tears welling up in her eyes.

“Come back tomorrow. We will give you more information but right now we are swamped here,” a nurse tells her, after reading a list of 32 wounded admitted to the hospital. Most of the names were Moroccan.

A man, rapidly losing patience, tries to convince police and medical officers, and most likely himself, that his brother is in the hospital.

“Hassan, a security officer at the Farah hotel, is among the victims. I have looked for him in all the clinics in town. Now, I will wait until someone confirms that he is here,” he demanded.

Clinging desperately to the hope that his relative survived, he said his brother had tackled one of the suicide bombers at the hotel, better known by its former name, the Safir hotel.

“My brother had the reflex to throw himself to the ground before the attacker could set off his bomb. Someone at the hotel told me he is not dead,” the man lamented. —AFP