Egyptian official: Militants kill 1 police and injure 3

Egyptian and Croatian services on Saturday continued their efforts to establish the whereabouts of Croatian Tomislav Salopek, abducted outside Cairo on July 22, whose captors threatened to kill him unless Egypt releases female Muslim prisoners, according to a statement from the Croatian foreign ministry.

After talks between Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry and Pusic, Cairo said: “We will not spare any effort to find the hostage and guarantee his security”.

Salopek is the first foreigner in Egypt to be kidnapped by a group from the fragmented Islamist insurgency.

Croatian foreign minister Vesna Pusic flew to Cairo on Thursday, accompanied by Salopek’s wife Natasa, in a bid to get help from the Egyptian authorities to save Salopek from ISIS. The video identifies itself as coming from the media arm of the Islamic State affiliate in Egypt’s lawless Sinai Peninsula.

Salopek had appeared in an Daesh video released on the internet on Wednesday, kneeling next to a masked militant holding a knife.

They say another five soldiers were killed and nine wounded when militants attacked troops near the Habbaniyah military base, where dozens of American advisers are stationed.

He said he works for French company CGG’s branch office in Cairo. If confirmed, this might be the primary recognized video of a Western hostage held by militants describing themselves as Egypt’s Sinai Province, a troubling improvement for a rustic struggling to rebuild its tourism business after years of unrest.

Formerly known as Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, the group changed its name when it pledged allegiance to IS in November.

Concern is growing for the fate of a Croatian citizen kidnapped last month in Cairo by an affiliate of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) as a deadline for his execution approaches.

Foreign interests also have been targeted increasingly, including the Italian Consulate, which was hit with a auto bomb last month.

The timing of the video came as Egypt prepared to inaugurate the New Suez Canal, a megaproject that is the centerpiece of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s plans to revitalize the country’s economy.

Morsi’s ouster unleashed a crackdown on his supporters in which more than 1,000 people have been killed and thousands jailed.

The jihadists have killed hundreds of soldiers and policemen, and they even destroyed a navy vessel with a wire-guided missile last month.