It said it was “doing everything in its power” and working with the Croatian Embassy in Cairo to obtain information about the kidnapped man. “The ministry is also keeping close contact with the victim’s family”, it said.The Islamic State (IS) terrorist group said on Wednesday it had executed Croatian Tomislav Salopek three weeks after his kidnapping near Cairo on 22 July.
Tomislav Salopek was in Egypt working for a French oil and gas company.
The still photo, whose authenticity could not immediately be verified, showed a decapitated head placed atop a bloodied torso sprawled in the sand, with a black Islamic State flag flying alongside.
The picture alleged to be of Salopek was posted on ISIL-affiliated Twitter accounts with the caption: “Execution of prisoner from Croatia – which has participated in war on Islamic State – after deadline ended”. But the country’s prime minister, Zoran Milanovic, will be addressing the nation in couple of hours.
The reference to Egypt’s female prisoners, some of whom have faced sexual violence in custody, was intended to strike a chord with disaffected young Islamists, Mr Awad said.
He said he was married to Natasa with two kids and that he worked for Compagnie Generale de Geophysique (CGG).
In Libya, an IS affiliate released a video in February showing its fighters beheading a group of Coptic Christians from Egypt. In April, another video showed them beheading and shooting dead groups of Ethiopian Christians.
“The United States stands shoulder to shoulder with Croatia and with all our friends and partners in the fight against terrorism”, the statement concluded. “After the expiration of the time limit and the Government abandoned his apostasy and his Egyptian”.
A state of emergency has been declared in the northern part of the Sinai Peninsula since a militant attack on an Egyptian army checkpoint killed more than 30 soldiers in October 2014.
From his exile in Istanbul, Amr Darrag, a senior Brotherhood figure and former minister, says that “it’s clear the battle against the cancer of extremism in Egypt is being lost”. In the immediate aftermath, the government moved quickly to condemn all terror groups in the country while also vowing swift vengeance against those responsible.
Egypt’s IS-affiliated militant group announced on Wednesday that it has killed Croatian hostage Tomislav Salopek.
Sinai Province is the most active of a number of militant groups that have emerged since the military takeover of the government and ouster of its Islamist president, Mohammed Morsi, in 2013.
On Friday, Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry met his Croatian counterpart Vesna Pusic to discuss ways to release the Croatian kidnapped citizen.
“The killing of the Croatian hostage is a Satanic action that has nothing to do with religions and traditions”, Al-Azhar said.
