Image purporting to show beheaded hostage is circulated online
- Tomislav Salope was abducted by armed men as he travelled to work on 22 July
- The group that has claimed the killing is known as Sinai Province
- Salope was an employee of French geophysical services company CGG
Militants affiliated with the jihadist group Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (Isis) have released an image that purportedly shows the dead body of a Croatian man who was abducted by armed men on 22 July, 50 kilometres from Cairo, increasing concerns about security in the North African country.
The group that has claimed the killing is known as Sinai Province. It was formerly called Ansar Beit al-Maqdis and changed its name when it pledged allegiance to Isis in November 2014.
The Croatian man, Tomislav Salope, was abducted by armed men as he travelled to work in the morning of 22 July, according to a statement from the Croatian Foreign Ministry.
Salope was an employee of French geophysical services company CGG, which specialises in oil and gas exploration and production.
On 5 August, the group posted a video online in which Salopek said he would be killed within 48 hours if Egypts government failed to release Muslim women held in prisons.
The photo released by the jihadist group, which purportedly shows Salopek beheaded in the desert, carried a caption saying he was killed for his countrys participation in the war against [Isis].
The frequency of terror attacks in Egypt has dramatically increased since the removal of former president Mohamed Mursi in 2013.
Recent attacks include attacks on military checkpoints in North Sinai on 2 July that killed 17 soldiers, and bomb attacks on 12 April that killed nine people.
Sinai Province also released a video showing the execution of a soldier and the beheading of a man wearing civilian clothes on 11 April.
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