IS claims to have beheaded Croatian hostage in Egypt

A picture purporting to show the beheaded body of a Croatian man held hostage by Islamist militants in Egypt have appeared on Twitter.

Last week, an online video purportedly from Sinai Province showed a man who identified himself as Tomislav Salopek who said the group would kill him in 48 hours if Muslim women in Egyptian jails were not freed.

The photo carried a caption in Arabic that said Salopek was killed “for his country’s participation in the war against the Islamic State”, and after a deadline had passed for the Egyptian government to meet their demands.

In recent months, Sinai Province has taken credit for a number of high-profile terrorist attacks in Egypt. Since then there has been no contact from the kidnappers and Egyptian security forces have launched an extensive search for Salopek.

The Sinai-based IS group released a video on 5 August titled “A message to the Egyptian government”, in which black-clad militants threatened to kill Salopek unless all female Muslim prisoners were released by Egyptian authorities within 48 hours.

In a previous video Mr Salopek said he was captured by ISIS on July 22.

The Croatian foreign ministry said on Sunday that Zagreb is using all means possible to help resolve the situation, but repeated its plea to the media not to publish unconfirmed information.

The 30-year-old man was kidnapped in the area of Cairo while travelling to work in an official vehicle.

Salopek has a wife and two children in Croatia and is employed as a topographer at a French company called Compagnie Générale de Géophysique.