Isil Claim to Have Beheaded Croatian Hostage in Egypt

THE TELEGRAPH: Tomislav Salopek, 31, was kidnapped in the early hours of July 22 as his car left Cairo

Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) loyalists appear to have murdered their first western hostage in Egypt.

Tomislav Salopek, 31, was kidnapped in the early hours of July 22 as his car left Cairo. He reappeared last week in a video released by the extremist group.

On Wednesday, a photograph showing what appeared to be Mr Salopek’s body was circulating on the social media accounts of Isil loyalists. The image could not immediately be verified.

The Isil-affiliated group, known as Sinai Province, had set a 48-hour deadline last Wednesday for Egyptian president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to release female Muslim prisoners, warning that they would kill Mr Salopek if their demands were not met.

Isil sympathisers shared the macabre countdown on social media as the deadline expired. Several accounts carried images of knives alongside the message: “Croatia participated in the war with the Islamic State”. » | Louisa Loveluck | Wednesday, August 12, 2015

ISIS Threatens to Execute Croatian Abducted in Egypt: Video

STRAITS TIMES: CAIRO (AFP) - Egypt’s affiliate of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) group threatened Wednesday to execute a Croatian kidnapped in Cairo last month within 48 hours if Muslim women jailed in Egypt are not freed.

The man is the first foreigner to be abducted and threatened with death by militants in Egypt since an Islamist insurgency erupted two years ago.

In a video posted online by the militants, the Croatian identifies himself as Tomislav Salopek working for French company CGG, and appears kneeling at the feet of a hooded man holding a knife.

Reading from a sheet of paper, he says he will be executed within 48 hours if Egypt’s government fails to release Muslim women held in prisons.

Salopek, wearing an orange jumpsuit, did not say when the countdown began.

He said he was abducted on July 22 by the Sinai Province group, ISIS' Egyptian affiliate based in the Sinai Peninsula.

Formerly known as Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, the group changed its name when it pledged allegiance to ISIS in November. » | Wednesday, August 5, 2015