Islamic State beheads Croatian hostage in Egypt

CAIRO: An affiliate of the dreaded Islamic state miltant group in Egypt today claimed to have beheaded a 30-year-old Croatian hostage and posted a picture of his body at the end of a 48-hour deadline.

The Croat, Tomislav Salopek, was abducted last month west of the capital Cairo.

Sinai Province, an Islamic State affiliate based in Egypt, released a photo on its Twitter account that shows the Croatian hostage beheaded and included a caption charging Croatia with participating in the war on IS.

The caption said that Tomislav Salopek, a married man and a father of two, was killed for his country's participation in the war against the Islamic State.

The incident comes a week after the IS demanded the Egyptian government to free female Muslim prisoners in exchange for the Croatian hostage.

On August 5, Sinai Province, which was previously known as Ansar Beit el-Maqdes militant group, had released a video of Tomislav in which he indicated that he worked for the Cairo branch of a French company, and was kidnapped on July 22, 2015.

In the video, he said that the group wants to substitute him for the Muslim women arrested in Egyptian prisons.

He also added that this has to be achieved before 48 hours from the time of the video or he will be killed.