Five dead after Casablanca raid

Story Highlights

• Four men were believed linked to the March 11 bombing of Internet cafe
• Governor: Police were closing in on men
• More than 30 suspects have been arrested in March 11 probe, according to report

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(CNN) -- Three suspected members of a terrorist group blew up themselves, and police shot a fourth after a chase in Casablanca's al Fida neighborhood, security services said, according to Morocco's state-run news agency, Maghreb Arabe Presse.

As police closed in on the suspects, one of them threatened police officers with a sword, pushing the officers to open fire, eventually killing him, said Casablanca governor Mokhtar Bekkali Kassimi.

The others blew themselves up -- one apparently by accident during the escape, another while breaking through a police checkpoint, and the last, as police were pursuing him early Tuesday in al Fida, Kassimi said. The checkpoint explosion killed a policeman and wounded another, the governor added.

Security services had tracked the suspects thanks to an ongoing investigation stemming from the March 11 suicide bombing at an Internet cafe in the Sidi Moumen neighborhood, Kassimi said. (Watch how terrorism is on the rise in northern Africa )

In that incident, the shop owner had noticed two people logging on to a Web site that advocated terrorism, and they were "behaving in a violent manner," MAP reported. When the shop owner threatened to call police, one of the suspects blew himself up. The other escaped, the agency said.

More than 30 suspects have been arrested so far, among them the man who escaped the bombed Internet cafe on March 11, MAP reported. All have appeared before a magistrate on terrorism-related charges.