Slaughter at the Summer Palace

In the attempted coup against the King of Morocco, the scene at his summer palace was one of sheer chaos. Only last week did a clear picture emerge as guests at the King's birthday party told their stories. Herewith an account pieced together by TIME Correspondent Wilton Wynn:

IT was the sort of day that has made Morocco a magnet for Western tourists. A hot sun blazed over Skhirat, where King Hassan II's rambling white summer palace is set amid oaks, poplars and eucalypti beside the Atlantic, and cooling breezes wafted in from the ocean. By Moslem custom, no women guests were present for the King's 42nd birthday party. But among the 500 male guests were ambassadors, generals and ministers. There were also the royal shirtmaker, shoemaker and tailor (all Italians), and four physicians (three French and one Austrian), who were in Morocco to give Hassan a checkup.

Many of the partygoers took a dip in the ocean or the King's pool. Some shot clay pigeons. The principal sporting event was a golf tournament; Hassan is such an ardent golfer that a 20-ft. birthday picture hanging in one of Rabat's main squares depicted him in golfing clothes. At the 18th hole, U.S. Ambassador Stuart W. Rockwell chatted with General Mohammed Medbouh, commander of the King's military household. "We are the only ones who take golf seriously," sniffed Medbouh. sb A lavish buffet, which included lobster, smoked salmon, roast sheep and couscous, was laid out, along with champagne and mint tea. Hassan ate with his seven-year-old son, Crown Prince Sidi Mohammed, one of his five children, under a special canopy. Near by sat Habib Bourguiba Jr., son of Tunisia's President. Italian Ambassador Amedeo Guillet, who makes it a practice never to eat at midday, lounged on a Moroccan pouf reading The Peter Principle.

Suddenly a pop! pop! pop! sound erupted near the palace gates. Most of the guests assumed it was firecrackers. Guillet, an ex-soldier, was one of the few who instantly recognized the sound as rifle fire. Like others, however, he dismissed it as a royal bodyguard's birthday salute. Then the holiday affair took a horrifying turn. Rockwell was strolling toward Hassan when he saw a guest in front of him topple to the floor, blood gushing from his leg. Hit by gunfire, a Moroccan man was spun around by the impact and fell against Guillet, leaving two sets of bloody fingerprints on the Italian envoy's shirt. As the man slipped to the ground, his mouth gushed scarlet. He was dead.

Soon the rifle shots were augmented by mortar fire and grenade explosions. Panicky guests scattered from the open patio to the throne room or to the beach, but many were cut down by gunfire. A grenade landed at Hassan's feet; Bourguiba heroically picked it up and tossed it away, probably saving the King's life. Thirty truckloads of cadets in battle fatigues swarmed over the grounds and made guests lie down in the broiling sun. sb In the confusion, Hassan slipped into the throne room and then into another room farther inside. There he dickered with General Medbouh, the nominal leader of the coup attempt. Minutes after that meeting, the general was shot, apparently accidentally, by one of his own guards.

Guests were pushed against a wall and shot by impromptu firing squads. The King's brother, Prince Moulay Abdullah, was hit in the arm during one such volley, then left by his would-be executioners when he fell and played dead. But it became evident that the King was meant to be spared. At one point cadets burst into his sanctuary and ordered him outside with the other surviving guests. A young soldier, nervously fingering the trigger of his rifle, took Hassan aside Alone, he kissed the King's hand. Hassan was astounded. "We are cadets of the military school of Abermoumou," the young man explained. "We were told that there was a plot under way aimed at the King, that the royal palace had been occupied and that your august life was in danger. It was to save you that we entered the palace." sb The battle shifted as suddenly as it had begun. Some cadets left the palace to seize installations in Rabat. Loyal soldiers arrived; outgunned, the remaining rebels surrendered. The bystanders stood up warily to survey a scene that had abruptly changed from carnival to carnage. In the 2 1/2hour battle, 92 of the guests and royal household had been killed, including the three French doctors and Belgian Ambassador Marcel Dupret. In addition, 160 of the mutineers, including Medbouh, were dead and 133 people were wounded.

Hurrying back to Rabat to cable word of the event, diplomatic partygoers were stunned by the normality beyond the palace. Only a mile away, as the shaken guests sped by, grinning Moroccan fishermen stood beside the road, holding up their day's catch for sale.

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