A Maghreb-based branch of the jihadist organization releases statement saying it was not behind last week's attack where 16 people died; Organization says targeting 'Jews and crusaders' is one of their priorities.
Al Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) denied on Saturday it was involved in a bomb attack on a cafe in Marrakesh last week that killed 16 people including eight French nationals.
Police in Morocco arrested three people on Thursday for the April 28 attack and said the chief suspect was "loyal" to al Qaida.
AQIM said it was not behind the killings but urged Moroccan Muslims to escalate a protest movement "to liberate their oppressed, jailed brothers and to topple the criminal regime," in a presumed reference to King Mohammed and his government.
"We deny involvement in the bombing and assure that we have nothing to do with it, neither up close nor from afar," said a statement carried by the Nouakchott info agency in Mauritania.
"Although hitting Jews and Crusaders and targeting their interests are among our priorities, which we urge Muslims to act upon and which we seeks to carry out, we choose the right moment and place," said the statement.
AQIM is a pan-Maghreb jihadist organization that has taken responsibility for a number of attacks, particularly in Algeria. It has sent fighters to Iraq and vowed to attack Western targets, according to the U.S. Council on Foreign Relations Website.
The group, which previously called itself the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat, says it is the local franchise of al Qaida.
Moroccan authorities said the chief suspect in the bombings disguised himself as a guitar-carrying hippie when he planted two bombs in a popular tourist cafe.
The bombs took six months to construct and were detonated by remote control using a cell phone, authorities said.
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