A pregnant Canadian woman and her husband are among the 15 people killed by a terrorist bombing in Morocco Thursday.

Michal Zekry, 29, and her husband Messod Wizman died after a bomb packed with nails exploded in a cafe overlooking Marrakesh's Jamaa el-Fnaa square, a spot often packed with foreign tourists, during lunch time Thursday.

Zekry had ties to Montreal MP Irwin Cotler, who released a statement Friday.

"Michal Zekry Wizman is from Montreal and my special advisor, Judith Abitan, knew her well," the statement reads. "This has made an international tragedy a very personal one, as once again we witness the slaughter of innocence in a suicide terrorist bombing."

Cotler's statement notes the couple worked in China and were visiting Morocco over Passover.

The attack, in which 23 people were also wounded, is the deadliest Morocco has seen since suicide bombers killed 33 people in co-ordinated strikes on the business hub Casablanca eight years ago.

"Preliminary investigation ... suggests that this was a terrorist act caused by an explosive device," the official MAP news agency quoted Interior Minister Taieb Cherkaoui as saying.

Two Marrakesh residents who were near the square told Reuters the explosion was carried out by a suicide bomber, but there was no confirmation of this and no immediate claim of responsibility.

Quoting an unnamed security official familiar with the investigation, the independent news website Lakome.com also said it was a suicide attack.

According to the website's source, the bomber was freed from prison two months ago after having been sentenced to eight years in jail for rape.

The interior ministry issued a statement saying the seven identified dead also included two French citizens, a Dutch national and two Moroccans.