News In Brief

Rise in cost of living sparks riots in Morocco

The Spanish national news agency EFE said Sunday that more than 60 people were feared killed in an outbreak of rioting Saturday in the north Moroccan town of Tetouan. A steep increase in the cost of living has precipitated riots in several Moroccan cities.

Quoting unidentified Moroccan sources, the agency said in a dispatch from Rabat, the Moroccan capital, that Tetouan was controlled by police and troops using armored vehicles.

EFE later quoted unofficial Moroccan sources as saying recent disturbances in the town of Al Hoceima, on the Mediterranean coast west of Melilla may have left as many as 100 dead.

Army tanks rumbled through the streets of the eastern Moroccan city of Nador Saturday to maintain calm in the aftermath of riots that reportedly left more than 25 people dead, EFE reported.

The government in Rabat has imposed a total news blackout and no official information is available.