OSLO: Hundreds of people observed two minutes of silence on Monday in Norway in honor of two Scandinavian women hikers murdered in Morocco’s Atlas Mountains in December.
Standing in the cold with flags flying at half-mast at the University of South-Eastern Norway in the town of Bo, the participants gathered to remember 28-year-old Maren Ueland from Norway, and 24-year-old Dane Louisa Vesterager Jespersen. Both were both students there.
The two women were killed at an isolated hiking spot south of Marrakesh overnight December 16-17, where they were vacationing. Their bodies were found the following day.
The authorities have said they were beheaded and are calling the crime a “terrorist” act.
The university addressed the murders with students on Monday morning as classes resumed after the Christmas break.
“We talked with the students and tried not to understand what can’t be understood, but we tried to make it easier for the students to put words on what has happened,” Annette Bischoff, the head of the faculty where the two women were studying to be travel guides, told AFP.
“This is very difficult for all of us, especially for the students who lived and studied with them,” she said.
The Moroccan authorities have arrested a total of 22 people in connection with the murders. They include the four main suspects and a Spanish-Swiss man who had links to some of the suspects and who subscribed to “extremist ideology,” say Moroccan officials.
The main suspects belonged to a cell inspired by Daesh group ideology, but none of the four had contact with IS members in Syria or Iraq, Morocco’s counter-terror chief Abdelhak Khiam told AFP.
Two minutes’ silence in Norway for hikers slain in Morocco
Two minutes’ silence in Norway for hikers slain in Morocco
- participants gathered to remember 28-year-old Maren Ueland from Norway, and 24-year-old Dane Louisa Vesterager Jespersen
- The two women were killed at an isolated hiking spot south of Marrakesh in December
Drone strikes in Ethiopia’s Tigray region kill one, injure another
- The senior Tigrayan official said the drone strikes hit two Isuzu trucks near Enticho and Gendebta
- The Ethiopian National Defense Force launched the strikes but did not provide evidence
ADDIS ABABA: One person was killed and another injured in drone strikes in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region on Saturday, a senior Tigrayan official and a humanitarian worker said, in another sign of renewed conflict between regional and national forces.
Ethiopia’s national army fought fighters from the Tigray People’s Liberation Front for two years until late 2022, in a war researchers say killed hundreds of thousands through direct violence, the collapse of health care and famine.
Fighting broke out between regional and national forces in the disputed territory of western Tigray earlier this week, according to diplomatic and government sources.
The senior Tigrayan official said the drone strikes hit two Isuzu trucks near Enticho and Gendebta, two places in Tigray about 20 kilometers apart. A humanitarian worker confirmed the strikes had happened. Both asked not to be named.
The Tigrayan official said the Ethiopian National Defense Force launched the strikes but did not provide evidence.
A spokesperson for the ENDF did not respond to a request for comment.
It was not immediately clear what the trucks were carrying.
TPLF-affiliated news outlet Dimtsi Weyane posted pictures on Facebook which it said showed the trucks damaged in the strikes. It said the trucks were transporting food and cooking items.
Pro-government activists posting on social media said the trucks were carrying weapons.
Earlier this week national carrier Ethiopian Airlines canceled flights to Tigray, where residents rushed to try to withdraw cash from banks.
The Tigray war ended with a peace pact in November 2022, but disagreements have continued over a range of issues, including contested territories in western Tigray and the delayed disarmament of Tigray forces.
