Morocco arrests 3 for Scandinavian tourists' deaths

Moroccan authorities on Thursday arrested three new suspects in Marrakesh city on suspicion of their involvement in the deaths of two Scandinavian female tourists.

A police search for the suspects started when the bodies of Louisa Jespersen, 24, from Denmark, and Maren Ueland, 28, from Norway, were found on Monday in tents they had been camping at the village of Imlil, located in the high Atlas Mountains of Morocco.

The women's bodies had "evidence of violence to their necks," the Moroccan Interior Ministry had said in a statement.

The detainees were now subject to judicial investigation under the supervision of the General Prosecutor's Office to determine the circumstances and reveal the motives behind the deaths, Efe news cited the Central Bureau of Judicial Investigations as saying.

Another suspect was arrested on Tuesday and a Moroccan prosecutor said he had affiliations to a terror group, without naming it.

Meanwhile, investigators were seeking to authenticate a video shared on social media purporting to show the murder of one of the tourists, according to the official MAP news agency.

Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen tweeted that the incident was "politically motivated and thus an act of terror".

--IANS

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