ISIS terrorists are suspected of murdering two Scandinavian women in Morocco Danish officials have said today, confirming that one of them was beheaded on video.
Maren Ueland, 28, from Norway, and Louisa Vesterager Jespersen, 24, from Denmark, were found dead near the village of Imlil in Morocco’s High Atlas mountains on Monday.
At least one of the suspected killers is an ‘extremist’, Moroccan authorities have confirmed, prompting fears that the gruesome double murder was an act of terror.
A video showing the murder of one of the women has been recognised as genuine, the PET Danish intelligence service said adding that the killings can be connected to ISIS.
In the clip, a man can be heard saying ‘These are your heads, enemies of god’ while there are claims the phrase ‘this is for Syria’ was used, in an apparent reference to Western bombing missions in the war-torn country.
Ms Ueland and Ms Vesterager Jespersen, who were studying to be outdoor guides at a Norwegian university, were spotted with three men in Marrakesh before heading to the Atlas mountains to hike.
A Moroccan police source said today that three fugitive suspects had been arrested in Marrakesh after an intensive manhunt – a day after another man was held, suspected of belonging to an Islamic extremist group.
All four suspects are reportedly between the ages of 25 and 33.
Three have been identified by their initials and two of them have been pictured wearing skullcaps and heavy beards.
‘RA’, from the small village of Douar el Caïd, outside Marrakesh, was born in 1985 and works as a salesman, officials said.
The second suspect, ‘AE’, a carpenter born in 1991, lives in the Azzouzia district of Marrakesh.
