Investigators from several countries are now aiding Morocco

Interior Minister Mustapha Sahel went on TV to say that 14 people and their "network" had been identified as playing a part in the attacks, 12 of whom were also killed in the attacks.

The remaining two were under arrest, the minister said as US Federal Bureau of Investigation agents arrived in the city to help the investigation.

Agents from Spain and France - who both lost nationals in the attacks - and Belgium, whose consulate was among the targets, have also sent intelligence experts to the country.

Mr Sahel said that one suspect was arrested on the same day as the bombings while the second had been picked upon Sunday evening.

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Their arrests, he said, had yielded "remarkable progress in the information the authorities now have confirming a link with international terrorism".

The minister thanked "friendly countries" for their technical help in identifying the bombers but gave no details.

Morocco has not officially commented on Western reports that the Islamic militant network al-Qaeda had a hand in the attacks.

BBC correspondent Sebastian Usher says that the appearance of the minister on TV is in line with the policy of King Mohammed of promoting transparency over the attacks.

The king himself has been visiting some of the scores of people wounded in hospital.

Fourteen of them are still in a serious condition.

Islamic group

More than 30 people have been arrested in raids across the country in connection with the attacks, the Moroccan authorities reported earlier.

They said that some of the suicide bombers had had connections with the radical Islamic Assirat el Moustaqim group, which for the past year has been trying to enforce its strict interpretation of Islam through, at times, violent means.

The majority of those killed and injured were Moroccans

Observers have expressed doubts as to whether the group would have had the capacity for such an attack.

Justice Minister Mohammed Bouzoubaa has said that some of the attackers were Moroccan citizens who had come to the country from abroad "a long time ago".

Moroccan radio said three of those arrested were from Assirat el Moustaqim, which has grown out of the poverty and dissatisfaction of Casablanca's shanty towns.

The report said one man had entered the country from Belgium and another from the United Arab Emirates, although it did not give their country of origin.

The BBC's security correspondent, Frank Gardner, says there are indications that the Casablanca blasts were probably the work of a North African cell linked to al-Qaeda.

In the past, Osama Bin Laden's network has carried out similar co-ordinated suicide bombings against Western or Jewish targets.

US 'disengaged'

The Moroccan authorities say they have tightened security throughout the country, and have assured foreign visitors that they will be safe.

The five blasts which hit Casablanca came within 30 minutes of each other.

The targets included a Jewish community centre, a busy Spanish restaurant and social club, and the Belgian consulate.

People gathered at the site of the restaurant blast on Monday evening to hold a two-hour candlelit vigil in memory of the victims, talking, singing and praying.

In the United States, Democratic presidential hopeful John Kerry has accused the Bush administration of becoming "disengaged" in the Middle East following the attacks in Morocco and, only days earlier, Saudi Arabia.