Rabat –Danish security services announced in a statement on Thursday that they did not authenticate a viral graphic video supposedly of the Scandinavian tourists’ murders.
The Danish Security and Intelligence Service (PET), however, sent a press release saying, “The police and the intelligence agency are still analyzing the video. So we cannot at this time say anything about the authenticity of the video.”
Louisa Vesterager Jespersen, 24, from Denmark and Maren Ueland, 28, from Norway were killed in Imlil, a village in Morocco near Mount Toubkal on Monday, December 17.
The video, which circulated social media networks Wednesday evening, shows Moroccan men slicing the throat of one of the victims. The footage records two voices of the killers. One said: “This is a revenge for our brothers in Hajin,” referring to a small town in eastern Syria that was ISIS’ last holdout.
Read Also: Four Suspects Involved in Murder of Scandinavian Tourists Near Mount Toubkal
Prime Minister Rasmussen commented today on the murders, condemning the killing and asserting that it “could be politically motivated and thus a terrorist act.”
Moroccan security services have not yet announced whether the video was related to the murder of the tourists.
Danish authorities believe the murder was ISIS-related. Morocco’s security services also believe the murder was an act of terror, saying that the first suspect they arrested on Tuesday was part of a radicalized group.
Read Also: Denmark Suspects Murders of Scandinavian Tourists Are Linked to ISIS
Morocco’s Central Bureau of Judicial Intelligence (BCIJ) gave the names of three additional suspects arrested today. All of the suspects, according to local media, live in “marginal neighborhoods” around Marrakech.
Police arrested Rachid Aftati, born in 1986, an alleged small businessman, in connection to the crime. Aftati lives in Al Kayed, in a rural area called Harbil, 30 kilometers from Marrakech.
The second suspect, Azid Youness, is a 27-year-old carpenter who lives in Al Azzouzia, Marrakech. The third suspect, Abdelsamad Ijoud, is a 25-year-old who lives in the Zeroual neighborhood in Marrakech.
