{"id":26290,"date":"2018-12-20T16:24:10","date_gmt":"2018-12-20T16:24:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=26290"},"modified":"2018-12-20T16:24:10","modified_gmt":"2018-12-20T16:24:10","slug":"morocco-arrests-3-more-suspects-in-nordic-hikers-killing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=26290","title":{"rendered":"Morocco arrests 3 more suspects in Nordic hikers\u2019 killing"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\nCOPENHAGEN: Moroccan authorities have arrested three more suspects in the killings of two Scandinavian tourists in Morocco\u2019s Atlas Mountains, as the Danish intelligence agency said it \u201cmay be related\u201d to the Daesh group.
The three new suspects were arrested in Marrakech as they tried to flee in a bus, according to national security spokesman Boubker Sabik. He told The Associated Press that authorities are investigating whether the three have terrorist affiliations. He said no other suspects are being sought.
Another suspect was arrested Tuesday, and a Moroccan prosecutor said he had affiliations to an extremist group, without naming it.
The killing has shocked Morocco, a popular tourist destination where attacks on foreigners are extremely rare. The women\u2019s bodies were found Monday in the Atlas Mountains, an area prized by hikers.
The killing can be considered \u201cpolitically motivated and thus an act of terror,\u201d Danish Prime Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen said Thursday. He said \u201cthere are still dark forces that want to fight our values\u201d and \u201cwe must not give in.\u201d
He confirmed the victims\u2019 identities as Louisa Vesterager Jespersen of Denmark, and Maren Ueland from Norway.
\u201cWhat should have been a holiday trip turned into a nightmare,\u201d Loekke Rasmussen told reporters in Denmark.
In neighboring Norway, Prime Minister Erna Solberg said terrorism \u201cis not the only lead that is being investigated in Morocco\u201d but said the case still \u201cemphasizes the importance of combating violent extremism.\u201d
\u201cWe trust that Moroccan authorities are doing their utmost to arrest those responsible for the murders,\u201d she told a scheduled news conference.
In a statement to The Associated Press, Denmark\u2019s domestic security agency said the preliminary investigation \u201cindicate, according to Moroccan authorities, that the killings may be related to the terrorist organization the Daesh group.\u201d
The bodies were found in a remote mountainous region, 10 kilometers (six miles) from the village of Imlil \u2014 often the starting point for treks to Mount Toubkal, North Africa\u2019s highest peak.
Moroccan media outlets reported that investigators have video surveillance footage showing three suspects putting up a tent near the victims\u2019 tent and leaving the area after the slaying.
The website of state broadcaster 2M published photos Thursday that they said were of the three suspects taken on a bus.
Security officials could not immediately confirm to the AP the identities of those in the photos.
The Norwegian victim\u2019s mother, Irene Ueland, told broadcaster NRK that her daughter had taken safety precautions before making the trip.
Authorities in Denmark and Norway on Wednesday warned their citizens against hiking without local guides in Morocco after the killing. Danish police officials said Wednesday they sent an officer to Morocco to assist in the investigation.
Morocco is generally considered safe for tourists but has battled with Islamic extremism for years, and more than a thousand Moroccans are believed to have joined the Daesh group.
An anti-terrorism rally is planned for Morocco\u2019s capital Saturday.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

COPENHAGEN: Moroccan authorities have arrested three more suspects in the killings of two Scandinavian tourists in Morocco\u2019s Atlas Mountains, as the Danish intelligence agency said it \u201cmay be related\u201d to the Daesh group.The three new suspects were arrested in Marrakech as they tried to flee in a bus, according to national security spokesman Boubker Sabik.…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":26291,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26290","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-middle_east_news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26290","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=26290"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26290\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/26291"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=26290"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=26290"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=26290"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}