The body of the hostage in the photo was flanked by an Islamic State flag and a knife stuck alongside him in the sand.
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Next to the picture, there are screenshots of Arabic language news articles with headlines saying: “Croatia confirms its support for Egypt in efforts to fight terrorism and extremism” and “Croatia affirms its continued support for the Kurdistan region”.
Speaking at a press conference in the Croatian capital, Zagreb, Prime Minister Zolan Milanovic said the country could not confirm Salopek’s death with absolute certainty. Salopek was married with two children.
“Unfortunately, we have to break the silence”, said Milanovic.
“Nothing is proven”, Blazanovic insisted.
The statement also says that under Islamic law, or Shariah, it is forbidden to shed the blood of foreigners, adding that what the “terrorists” did was a betrayal of the Prophet Muhammad and all Muslims. There are also growing numbers of supporters in other countries. Moreover the death of a foreign worker abducted in Egypt’s “mainland” undermines recent attempts by Egypt’s military-backed government to project an aura of security and renewal after years of unrest.
“This is something the authorities will use to advance the narrative that they’ve pushed that they are fighting ruthless, bloodthirsty terrorists”, Sabra said.
Images posted online seem to show a beheaded Tomislav Salopek, a Croatian national, officials from various countries and the SITE Intelligence Group said Wednesday. It was not clear where that video was shot.
He was wearing a beige jumpsuit, like the one he had worn in a previous video.
In the video, he said that the group wants to substitute him for the Muslim women arrested in Egyptian prisons. “She rejected the whole thing”.
In the meantime, the 48-hour ultimatum set by his captors had expired, yet there was no new information about Salopek’s fate.
The Sinai Peninsula in the east of Egypt is a centre of an Islamist insurgency led by a militant group originally called Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis, which then became part of ISIS in 2014.
Salopek was kidnapped July 22 in the area of Cairo, according to his employer and the Croatian government.
CGG, the French geoscience company that employed Mr Salopek, has said it may scale back its operations in Egypt as a result of the apparent murder.
Violence in the Sinai Peninsula has increased since Islamist President Mohammed Morsi was overthrown in 2013.
ISIS is an alternative acronym for the Islamic State group, which has captured a third of both Syria and Iraq while its affiliates have emerged in countries such as Egypt and Libya. The company confirmed last Wednesday that Salopek was an employee.
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On July 11, Sinai Province took credit for the bombing of the Italian consulate in Cairo, its first claim of attack on a diplomatic mission. That came just days after another bomb killed Prosecutor General Hisham Barakat in an upscale Cairo neighborhood.
