It's always hard to make sense of the senseless. The heinous attack at Café Argana in Marrakech yesterday bears all the signs of a coordinated effort to forestall the peaceful process of democratic reform in Morocco. The timing is calculated to derail a scattered but popular uprising across the country to demand more democracy and economic parity. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack yet, but early investigations point to Al-Qaeda in the Islamic  Maghreb, a violent group which has been trying to set up a cell in Morocco but has failed so far, according to Moroccan authorities. The type of explosives used (TATP) is apparently the same used in the 7/7 subway attacks in London. Earlier this year, the country's interior minister announced the arrest of a 27-member team of this group and accused them of plotting to carry out a series of terrorist attacks in various Moroccan cities. Some are suggesting that this could also be the work of the Polisario Front, a separatist group which has been calling for independence in the Western Sahara. In 2003, 12 suicide bombers killed 33 people in Casablanca and that attack was blamed on an Al-Qaeda-affiliated group in Morocco. I hope this will not be exploited by local authorities to crack down on ongoing peaceful campaigns for more democratic reforms.