Deaths at Morocco concert stampede
At least 70,000 spectators had turned up to watch the Mawzine music festival in Rabat [AFP]
Eleven people have been killed in a stampede at a stadium in Rabat, the capital of Morocco, at the end of a music festival involving 70,000 people.
Five women, two teenagers and four men were killed in the early hours of Sunday morning after a fence collapse during the stampede.
Forty people were injured, eight of them seriously in the crush at a concert hosted by Moroccan pop star Abdelaziz Stati at the Hay Nahda football stadium.
"An investigation is under way to establish the exact causes and circumstances of the incident," the interior ministry said in a statement on Sunday.
'Music for modernity'
The concert was part of a week-long annual Mawazine music festival - one of a growing number of well-funded music gatherings aimed at promoting an image of tolerance and modernity in the north African kingdom.
Tens of thousands of fans have flocked to the festival featuring Kylie Minogue, Ennio Morricone, Khaled, Alicia Keys and Algerian diva Warda al Jazairia.
Mawazine, which is backed by the country's King Mohammed VI, aims to liven up the capital Rabat and ward off the growing cultural influence of opposition Islamic groups, observers say.
Some opposition politicians have denounced the pop concerts as encouraging immoral behaviour and say it would be better to spend the money on creating jobs.
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