Scandinavian tourists Maren Ueland and Louisa Jespersen stabbed to death in Morocco, suspect ‘linked to Islamic State’
- Maren Ueland and Louisa Jespersen were university classmates on a month-long holiday
- The two young women from Denmark and Norway were found dead in a popular hiking area in Morocco, where tourist murders are rare
Moroccan authorities have arrested three fugitive suspects in the grisly murder of two Scandinavian hikers after an intensive manhunt, a source close to the investigation said on Thursday.
The arrests in the city of Marrakesh follow a first arrest on Monday, hours after the discovery of the two women’s bodies in the High Atlas mountains.
The man already in custody is suspected of belonging to an Islamic extremist group.
The women were identified in Scandinavian media as Louisa Vesterager Jespersen of Denmark, and Maren Ueland of Norway. They were discovered stabbed in the neck on Monday by other tourists, who alerted police, according to national media. Hiking in the area was temporarily suspended.
The killings have shocked Morocco, a popular tourist destination where such attacks on foreigners are extremely rare.
The Rabat public prosecutor’s office said in a statement Wednesday that one captured suspect has affiliations to a terrorist group, without naming the group.
The suspect was arrested in Marrakech on Tuesday.
The remote mountainous region where the women were found dead is 10km from the village of Imlil – often the starting point for treks to Mount Toubkal, North Africa’s highest peak.