‘I regret it’: Suspect admits to beheading young tourist in Morocco in brutal attack, allegedly recorded and shared on social media

A suspected jihadist reportedly confessed to decapitating one of two young Scandinavian tourists who were found murdered in a cave in Morocco last year.

As CrimeOnline previously reported, two student tourists — 28-year-old Maren Ueland, from Norway, and 24-year-old Louisa Vesterager Jespersen, from Denmark, were found dead in the High Atlas mountain range in Morocco this past December.

Authorities initially took four suspects into custody in connection to the brutal killings, which were reportedly filmed and shared on social media. At the time, a witness reportedly claimed that the victims had been beheaded. Authorities suspected the brutal killings were a terroristic attack and that the suspects were affiliated with ISIS.

According to the BBC, one of the suspects admitted in court on Thursday that he did behead one of the victims.

“I beheaded one of them … I regret it,” Abdessamad Ejjoud, 25, reportedly said in court, also admitting that he committed the violent act as a pledge of allegiance to the Islamic State.

Ejjoud then accused another suspect, Younes Ouaziyad, of killing the second hiker.

It is not clear which victim Ejjoud confessed to beheading.

According to the report, authorities now believe three suspects are directly responsible for the killings, but two dozen suspects are currently on trial for a variety of terrorism-related charges in Rabat, Morocco.

If found guilty, the killers could face the death penalty.

 

[Feature image: Maren Ueland and Louisa Vesterager Jespersen/Facebook]