Eric Feferberg, AFP | French Interior minister Bernard Cazeneuve has asked Prime Minister Manuel Valls to revoke the five of their citizenships

Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve on Tuesday told lawmakers that he had requested five French citizens be stripped of their nationalities over the 2003 Casablanca bombings that left dozens dead.

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“I have asked the prime minister to revoke the nationality of five terrorists,” he told the National Assembly.

According to Reuters, four of the five people who may lose their French citizenship are of Moroccan origin, while the fifth person has Turkish origins.

French law only allows for a nationality to be stripped from a citizen who holds a second passport.

A source close the interior ministry said that all five had previously been convicted of involvement in the string of suicide bombings in Casablanca, Morocco in 2003 that killed 45 people.

Revoking citizenships is extremely rare in France and the measure has only been applied 21 times since the 1990s.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP, REUTERS)

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