Al Qaeda group denies bombing Morocco cafe, report says

By the CNN Wire Staff

An investigator stands inside the Argana cafe days after a bombing last month.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb denies responsibility for April 28 bombing, report says
The attack killed 16 people and injured 21
Morocco's Interior Ministry said 3 suspects loyal to al Qaeda were arrested
Tourists flock to Marrakech, often packed with storytellers and snake-charmers

(CNN) -- A North African Al Qaeda group is denying responsibility for last month's bombing of a popular cafe in Morocco's south central tourist city of Marrakech, which killed 16 people and injured 21, according to a report Saturday.

Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb said it has "no ties with the explosion and no involvement whatsoever in this operation," according to an official Mauritanian state news agency, which said it received the statement from the group.

The announcement comes two days after the country's Interior Ministry announced that three Moroccan suspects loyal to al Qaeda were arrested in connection with the April 28 bombing.

One of the suspects was described in the Interior Ministry statement as the main figure in the attack, according to

the official Maghreb Arabe Presse news agency.

The ministry statement described the bombing as a terrorist attack.

The bombing tore through Cafe Argana in Marrakech's old city, which is designated by the United Nations' cultural arm as a World Heritage Site. Tourists flock to the old city this time of the year, and it is usually packed with stalls, storytellers and snake-charmers.

World leaders, including U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, condemned the bombing.

"The individuals were absorbed by jihadist ideology, and had allegiance to al Qaeda and had already made several attempts to join some of the hotbeds of tension, especially Chechnya and Iraq, before deciding to carry out terror in the homeland," the ministry statement said, according to MAP.

The suspects learned on the Internet how to make the two remote-detonated explosive devices used in the bombing, the ministry statement said. The attackers chose Cafe Argana as the target because of its popularity, and dressed as tourists to access the area, the statement said.

A preliminary investigation found remnants of explosive materials and tools "that had been discarded after the terrorist act," according to the statement.