3:50pm UK, Wednesday May 28, 2003

The suspected mastermind of the suicide blasts that killed dozens in Casablanca has died in prison, the city's prosecutor has said.

He is reported to have died of heart and liver problems while in detention.

180 Casablanca suicide bombers morocco

Scene of devastation

He has been named as Abdelhaq Moulsabbat, who had been arrested on Monday in the central Moroccan city of Fes.

A total of 43 people including 12 suicide bombers were killed in the May 16 attacks in Morocco's largest city.

Another would-be bomber was caught trying to flee, and a second surviving bomber was arrested the following day.

The judicial police in their investigation have been focusing on a small ultra-conservative Islamist group known as al-Assirat al-Moustaquim (The Righteous Path).

The group is based in Casablanca's low-income Sidi Moumen neighbourhood and reputed to have followers in other cities including Fes.

Authorities have also implicated an "international terrorist network" without directly naming al Qaeda.

Osama bin Laden's network has been blamed for a number of attacks since September 11, 2001.