AFP - The bodies of eight French killed in the attack in Marrakesh, which killed 16 people April 28, were repatriated Tuesday in France, where President Sarkozy paid tribute to them and promised their families that "crime" would not "go unpunished".
The plane carrying the body, chartered by the French state, landed shortly before 5:00 p.m. Tuesday at Orly.
The eight coffins draped with the tricolor flag were aligned on the tarmac.Nicolas Sarkozy, came with his wife Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, welcomed the families and relatives, then was collected before the coffins before the Republican Guard n'entonne La Marseillaise.
In a very personal speech, in which each victim, including a 10 year old girl, Camille, was mentioned by name, the Head of State promised that the "crime" of the attack would not remain "unpunished" .
"France, I say here I say it before returning the bodies of eight French with a little girl of ten years, I say to you who will now have to live with this pain but with this terrible feeling inside ourselves tonight, France will not let this crime go unpunished, "Sarkozy said.
"Terrorists, my dear compatriots, now know they will have no respite, nowhere, never.Wherever they are, wherever they are hiding they are sought after, followed the trail, flushed out by all means and they will be accountable for their crimes, "he said in an allusion to the death of Chief Al-Qaeda, Osama bin Laden, who was killed Sunday by U.S. commandos in Pakistan.
After his speech, the President spoke about thirty minutes with families in honor of the flag of the airport.
In the morning at the Marrakech airport, shortly before the departure of the plane to Paris, the families had gathered in the intimate, attended by the Moroccan Interior Minister Taieb Cherkaoui, and French diplomats.
"I have a hatred of terrorists, terrorists are not the defenders of Islam", told the press the father of a victim who did not give his name.
A remote-controlled bomb blew coffee on April 28, the Argana, on the Jamaa El Fna, the Mecca of tourism in Marrakech, killing 16 dead and 21 wounded.
Besides the eight French, three Moroccans, a Briton, a Canadian, a Dutchman, one Portuguese and one Swiss were killed in the attack, the deadliest in Morocco since 2003.
The attack was not claimed, and no arrests have been announced, but the involvement of the likes of Al Qaeda in the region was discussed.
The Moroccan authorities have reiterated Monday that they favored the track Al Qaeda."We're still on the track announced that conjured up acquaintances with Al-Qaeda," he told AFP spokesman Khalid Naciri government.
The day of the attack, King Mohammed VI had ordered a prompt and transparent investigation and asked that the public is kept informed of its progress.
Among the tracks contained the sketch of a suspect to statements made by two Dutch tourists.It would be an Arab, young, clean shaven and with long hair who was seen at the Cafe Argana, minutes before the explosion.
All the French wounded in the attack have been repatriated to France, said Tuesday the embassy of France. The latter have been medicalized in two planes Tuesday morning.
