"That they should choose to attack Morocco tells something about their terrible motivation," Wolfowitz told reporters during a brief visit to Macedonia.

"Morocco stands out in the Arab world as a country that is making significant strides towards democracy and I think the terrorists are opposed to progress," he said in the first official US reaction to the bombings.

"They want to take Arab Muslim people backward, but I do not believe that that is where the great majority of Arabs and Muslims want to go," he added.

The bomb attacks in Casablanca, Morocco's largest city, killed at least 39 people and left dozens more injured as people were enjoying a Friday night out.

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