Interior Ministry spokesman Abdul Rahman Achour said the 38-year-old Husseini was suspected as having directed both the Madrid and Casablanca strikes, Middle East Newsline reported. Achour said Husseini, a Moroccan national, has been wanted by police since 2002.

Officials said Husseini traveled to Afghanistan and trained with Al Qaida-aligned insurgents. They said Husseini escaped Afghanistan and fled to Iraq and then Syria.

In March 2006, a man with a similar name was reported to have been arrested in Morocco. GICM was said to have been established by Moroccans who trained in Al Qaida camps in the 1990s.

The Madrid strikes on commuter trains killed 191 people and injured more than 1,500 in 2004. Spain has been prosecuting 29 people, including 15 Moroccans, in connection with the bombings.

The 2003 suicide bombings in Casablanca killed 45 people, including three French nationals. Officials said Husseini helped prepare the bombs used by 12 suicide attackers.

Last week, French counter-insurgency judge Jean-Louis Bruguiere completed his investigation into the Casablanca strike. Bruguiere charged nine people with helping finance the strike.

In February, Morocco went on high alert amid intelligence that Al Qaida insurgents had infiltrated the North African kingdom from neighboring Algeria. Officials said operatives from the Al Qaida Organization in the Islamic Maghreb, formerly the Salafist Brigade for Combat and Call, have been targeting Morocco and Tunisia. They said GICM was believed to have also joined the Al Qaida Organization in the Islamic Maghreb.

Meanwhile, a suspected Al Qaida operative blew himself up in an Internet cafe in Casablanca. The attack on Monday was the first suicide strike in the North African kingdom since 2003.

Officials said the bomber was on the Internet and believed to have sought instructions on where to conduct the attack. They said when the young man refused the demands of cafe owners to leave the computer, they summoned the police. At that point, the insurgent detonated an explosives belt underneath his clothes.

The suicide bomber, identified as Abdul Fatah Raidi, was killed and three others were injured. A suspected accomplice sought to escape and was arrested.

The Interior Ministry said Raidi, 22, was convicted of links to Islamic insurgency groups. In 2003, Raidi was sentenced to five years in prison and pardoned by King Mohammed in 2005. On Monday, the Moroccan king was in Saudi Arabia.

Hours after the bombing, police arrested several suspects around Casablanca. No further details were reported.

Officials said the Internet cafe did not appear to have been the target of the suicide attack, meant to have taken place on the anniversary of the Al Qaida-aligned bombings in Madrid in 2004. They said the bombing on early Monday took place in Sidi Moumen, home to 13 Al Qaida suicide bombers who killed 32 people in Casablanca in 2003.

The bombing came amid the high alert in Morocco imposed by authorities concerned over the prospect of an imminent Al Qaida attack. Officials said the Al Qaida Organization in Islamic Maghreb, based in neighboring Algeria, had sent insurgents into Morocco.

Officials said the Raidi came several times to the same Internet cafe to browse through Al Qaida-aligned websites. They said cafe owners were alarmed by the young man's behavior and feared that the authorities would raid the premises.

The last time Raidi entered the cafe was on late Sunday, when he was accompanied by another young man. After several hours, the owners, who watched the two visitors browse through Al Qaida-aligned sites, asked them to leave.

At that point, witnesses said, Raidi began banging on the computer keys in anger. The son of the cafe owner closed the shutters and summoned the police. Minutes later, Raidi, trapped in the store, detonated his bomb.