ISIL claims to have beheaded Croatian hostage in Egypt

CAIRO - Agence France-Presse

Friends of Croatian national Tomislav Salopek, abducted near Cairo by ISIL militants, stand outside his home in Vrpolje, eastern Croatia, waiting for news, on August 7, 2015. AFP Photo

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) claimed on August 12 to have beheaded a Croatian hostage abducted in Egypt, posting a purported picture of the victim's body on ISIL-affiliated Twitter accounts.

The Croat, Tomislav Salopek, was abducted last month west of the capital Cairo. The jihadists had issued a 48-hour deadline that ended on August 7, threatening to kill him if Muslim women prisoners were not released from Egyptian jails.
 
The picture's authenticity could not be immediately verified.
 
His abduction and purported killing were unprecedented in Egypt, which is battling an ISIL insurgency in the eastern Sinai Peninsula.    

The picture was posted on ISIL-affiliated Twitter accounts with the caption: "Execution of prisoner from Croatia -- which has participated in war on Islamic State [ISIL] -- after deadline ended."  

Salopek, a father of two, had been working with French geoscience company CGG when abducted from a car roughly 22 kilometres (14 miles) west of Cairo, security sources told AFP.
 
The abduction has rattled foreigners working for multinational companies and underscored the jihadists' reach despite a massive military campaign against ISIL.