13 people arrested in Morocco tourist beheadings

13 people arrested in Morocco tourist beheadings

Thirteen people were arrested for murdering and beheading two Scandinavian women tourists in the mountains of Morocco.

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The two women tourists were identified as Danish Louisa Jespersen, 24, and Norwegian Maren Ueland, 28. According to the media reports, four people were suspected of killing these two women tourists. Out of these four, one of the suspects had recently served a two-year sentence in an extremism related case.

13 people arrested in Morocco tourist beheadings

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The police has also arrested nine others for their alleged connections to these four murder suspects. The police has conducted various raids at the site of the murder and found substances that could be used in the making of the explosives. The bodies of Louisa and Maren were found on December 17 in the High Atlas mountain range. It is suspected that they were killed with a ‘melee weapon’, normally used in direct hand-to-hand combat.

The dead women tourists were last spotted with three men in their hotel before heading to the Atlas Mountains to hike.

13 people arrested in Morocco tourist beheadings

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The Moroccan government called these killings as "terrorist and criminal act”. The Danish Prime Minister, Lars Lokke Rasmussen, told the media that these killings seemed to be "politically motivated and thus a terrorist act."

Moroccans have gathered outside the Danish Embassy in order to protest on Saturday.

-PTC NEWS