Alleged ISIS-inspired leader confesses beheading tourists in Morocco – but says he ‘regret

Former street vendor Abdessamad Ejjoud admitted he was part of the group which killed Danish student Louisa Vesterager Jespersen, 24, and 28-year-old Norwegian Maren Ueland. Ejjoud told a court in Morocco: “I beheaded one of them… I regret it. We loved ISIS and we prayed to God for it.” The alleged ringleader added the other victim was killed by co-defendant Younes Ouaziyad. The girls, who were studying to become guides at Norway’s Bo University, were butchered while camping in the foothills of Toubkal, the highest summit in North Africa, in December. The alleged murderers are accused of travelling to the Moroccan Atlas on December 12 with the intention to kill tourists.

They are believed to have targeted the two students after passing over potential targets because they were accompanied by tourists or were local residents.

Four days after having first spotted the victims, the killers allegedly carried out their horrifying mission. Two of the men are accused of killing the women, while a third person filmed the attack on their phone.

After finding their bodies, Moroccan police only revealed the women had been found with wounds on their necks.

However, the video taken by the third defendant, which did not surface until later, showed the victims had their neck severed.

In the shocking footage, the killers spoke of the “enemies of Allah” and said murders were in retaliation to the killings of jihadists in Syria. In a separate video published in the aftermath of the murders, the alleged killers were seen pledging their alliance to ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

Ejjoud is one of the 24 defendants facing charges including promoting terrorism, forming a terrorist cell and premeditated murder at a court in Sale, near Morocco’s capital city Rabat.

Among them is a Spanish-Swiss national, 25-year-old Kevin Zoller Guervos, who moved to Morocco after converting to Islam. All the other alleged terrorist cell members come from modest backgrounds and live in the neglected neighbourhoods near Marrakesh, in north Morocco.

While the group inspiration from ISIS, investigators believe they had no contacts with the terror group, which has never claimed responsibility for the murders.

source: express.co.uk