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Video of Morocco murder authenticated as terror fears mount | |
(about 1 hour later) | |
Danish intelligence services have authenticated a video circulating on social media that shows the murder of one of two Scandinavian women killed in Morocco as fears mount that the tourists were killed by Islamist extremists. | |
The authentication was confirmed in a statement released on Thursday. It came as Moroccan authorities arrested three more suspects over the killings in the Atlas mountains. | |
The men were arrested in Marrakech as they tried to flee in a bus, according to the national security spokesman Boubker Sabik, who told the Associated Press that authorities were investigating whether they had terrorist affiliations. | |
Another suspect, arrested on Tuesday, had affiliations to an extremist group, Moroccan authorities have said. | |
The bodies of Louisa Vesterager Jespersen, 24, from Denmark, and Maren Ueland, 28, from Norway, were found on Monday in an isolated area near Imlil, which is on the route to Toubkal, north Africa’s highest peak and a popular hiking destination. | |
One of the women was found inside their tent and the other outside. Both had fatal wounds around the neck. According to a source who spoke to the AFP news agency, one of the bodies had been decapitated. | |
“The PET [Danish intelligence service] confirms that a video circulating on the internet shows the murder of one of the two women killed in Morocco,” it said in a statement on Thursday. In an earlier statement PET said Moroccan authorities had indicated that the killings may be related Islamic State. | |
The killing can be considered “politically motivated and thus an act of terror”, the Danish prime minister, Lars Løkke Rasmussen, said on Thursday. He said “there are still dark forces that want to fight our values” and “we must not give in”. | |
In Norway, the prime minister, Erna Solberg, said terrorism “is not the only lead that is being investigated in Morocco” but said the case still “emphasises the importance of combating violent extremism”. | |
Jespersen, from Denmark, had posted on Facebook about her upcoming trip before leaving. “Dear friends, I’m going to Morocco in December. Any of you guys who’s around by then or any mountain friends who knows something about Mount Toubkal?” | |
The killings have prompted concerns about the impact on Morocco’s tourist sector, which accounts for 10% of national income, as the kingdom’s relative security has always been a major selling point. | |
Compared with other countries in North Africa, Morocco has been largely insulated from militant attacks. The most recent took place in April 2011, when about 17 people were killed in a restaurant bombing in Marrakech. | |
Morocco’s Central Bureau of Judicial Investigations, established in 2015, says it has so far broken up 57 militant cells, including eight in 2018. | |
In the videos that have been circulating a voice can reportedly be heard speaking of the “enemies of Allah” several times and referring to “revenge for our brothers in Hajin”, referring to the last stronghold of Isis in Syria, which fell a few days ago. | |
The two victims were friends from the University of South-Eastern Norway, where they were studying together. “What we know is that they were on a month-long, private holiday in Morocco. Our thoughts go to the families,” the university said. | |
Associated Press contributed to this report | |
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Middle East and North Africa | Middle East and North Africa |
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