Denmark’s prime minister says the killings of two Scandinavian tourists in Morocco’s Atlas Mountains can be considered “politically motivated and thus an act of terror.”
The two female tourists, Louisa Vesterager Jespersen, 24, of Denmark and 28-year-old Maren Ueland of Norway, were killed in an unguarded area in hard to reach mountains, according to the Moroccan prosecutor’s office.
Investigators continue to authenticate a video allegedly posted on social media that shows the women’s grisly murders.
A man suspected in the killing belongs to a militant group, the prosecutor said on Dec. 19, without identifying the group. The suspect was arrested in Marrakech, Morocco’s main tourist hub.
Police continue to hunt for the other suspects.
“We are working to bring before justice three other suspects on the run,” said police spokesman Boubker Sabik.
“Three homeless men came from Marrakech and pitched a tent right next to the girls’ tent,” a hotelier was quoted as saying. “The men were not from around here.”
The men may have stalked the pair, according to The Sun, before attacking them while they slept.
‘Linked to Terrorist Acts’
The police spokesperson told Agence France-Presse that one of the three suspects had “a court record linked to terrorist acts.” The same report cited the prosecutor general’s office as saying that the man in custody belonged to an extremist group.“Radical Islam is not ruled out, due to the profile of the suspect arrested and of the three men wanted,” an unnamed source close to the investigation told AFP.
Denmark’s prime minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen said on Dec. 20 that “there are still dark forces that want to fight our values” and “we must not give in.”
Morten Bøås at the Norwegian Department of Foreign Affairs said that the killings were unlikely to be the work of more established terrorist groups.
What Happened?
The two women were on a camping trip when they were brutally murdered.Their bodies were found on Monday, Dec. 17, in an isolated area near Imlil, on the way to Toubkal, North Africa’s highest peak and a popular hiking destination.
Efforts are said to be underway to authenticate the footage.
A local guide who works in the area told AFP the body of one woman was found inside the tent, and the other outside of it.
‘Such a Chaotic Place’
Helle Jespersen, the woman’s mother, said she urged her daughter not to go to Morocco. “We advised her not to go down because it’s such a chaotic place, and you’ve heard of people who have been killed down there,” she said, the Telegraph reported.“I broke down,” Jespersen said. “She was always happy and positive. She brought out the best in everyone.”
Impact on Morocco
Security was stepped up in the region, Moroccan media said, and hiking was suspended in the wake of the grisly murders.“It’s very bad for the region,” a local guide told AFP. “There will undoubtedly be cancelations.”
Tourism is a core fixture of the Moroccan economy and the country’s second-largest employer.
“Contributing 8.1 percent to GDP and accounting for 7.1 percent of total employment in 2016, tourism evidently holds an important place in Morocco’s economy, even though the sector has faced some challenging times.”
Morocco has been largely insulated from the militant attacks that plagued other countries in North Africa. The latest bomb attack in the country dates back to April 2011 when 17 people were killed in a restaurant in Marrakech.
Morocco has stepped up its effort to counter militant groups with the creation in 2015 of its own version of the FBI. The Central Bureau for Judicial Investigations has so far broken up 57 militant cells, including eight in 2018.
More than 1,000 Moroccan youths, predominantly from the north of the country, have joined militant groups in the Middle East.