AN alleged ISIS ringleader accused of killing two Scandinavian hikers has admitted beheading one of the victims.

Louisa Vesterager Jespersen, 24, from Denmark, and Maren Ueland, 28, of Norway, were butchered on a hiking holiday near Mount Toubkal in Morocco, last December.

6 Norwegian tourist Maren Ueland was butchered while on a hiking holiday with her friend Credit: AFP

6 Louisa was an outdoor enthusiast who was widely travelled Credit: Facebook

Former street vendor Abdessamad Ejjoud, 25, admitted killing one of the students at a court near Rabat.

According to AFP, he said: "I beheaded one of them... I regret it. We loved ISIS and we prayed to God for it."

Sickening footage of the brutal beheading was shared on social media, and even posted online to the young women's parents.

During the horrific video, the perpetrators cry out: "It's Allah's will" and are heard saying: "This is revenge for our brothers in Hajine in Syria. These are your heads, enemy of God."

BUTCHERED ON HIKING TOUR

Rachid Imerhade, a mountain guide who had met the two friends a few days before their deaths, described the pair as "happy" in their final days.

He said: "They were smiling, chatty and sociable. They talked a lot with the other people around.”

Jespersen's mother, Helle Petersen, told the Danish newspaper B.T. that her daughter was "always happy and positive. Everyone loved her and she saw the best in everyone".

She added that she had warned her daughter about travelling to Morocco "because of the chaotic situation", reported Straits Times.

Nineteen people were held in custody over the murders of the two young women

While the North African country has not abolished capital punishment, the government has not carried out at an execution since 1993.

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But a petition calling for the men responsible to be executed attracted nearly 3,000 signatures.

It said: "The death penalty is undoubtedly the right solution to this horrible crime, as a Moroccan, I request the application of Articles 393, 399 of the Moroccan Penal Code.”

The two articles the petition references relate to premeditated murder and a crime involving torture being punishable by death under Moroccan law.

6 In a video which emerged on Twitter, the four suspects appeared to claim responsibility for the attack

6 Pictured is the suspected ringleader Abdessamad Ejjoud, who admitted beheading one of the victimsh Credit: AFP or licensors

6 Pictured is Ouziad Younes, one of the arrested suspects Credit: AFP or licensors

6 Picture released by the Moroccan Police shows Rachid Afatti, one of the three suspects in the grisly murder Credit: AFP or licensors

Video shows the home of Younes Ouaziad, one of the men held over the the murders of Louisa Vesterager Jespersen and Norwegian Maren Ueland in Morocco

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