Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shukri told his Croatian counterpart Vesna Pusic on Wednesday that the authorities were still doing all they could to find and arrest the kidnappers, his ministry said.
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“The conclusion was that there is no specific request and that we were dealing with two different organisations”.
The picture was posted on IS-affiliated Twitter accounts with the caption: “Execution of prisoner from Croatia – which has participated in war on Islamic State – after deadline ended”. Islamic State sympathizers circulated an image Wednesday that appears to show the grisly aftermath of the beheading of Tomislav Salopek, a Croatian hostage abducted in Egypt, which if confirmed would mark the first such killing of a foreign captive in the country since the extremist group established a branch here past year.
“But what we see does not look good”, he said, adding that his government would not give up searching as long as there was hope. The government has been struggling to project an image of stability and revive the economy following years of unrest.
Pusic said she has met with representatives of other Croatian citizens working in Egypt and that they are considering stronger security measures for them, including the protection of the Egyptian army.
A Daesh affiliate in Egypt said Wednesday that it had killed a Croatian hostage because of the failure by the Egyptian government to release female political prisoners. Many European hostages have been released, reportedly in exchange for ransom, while citizens of the United States and Britain, which refuse to pay ransoms, have been killed.
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Last week, an online video purportedly from Sinai Province showed a man who identified himself as Tomislav Salopek and said the group would kill him in 48 hours unless “Muslim women” in Egyptian jails were freed.
