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On Wednesday, Egypt’s affiliate of the Islamic State group threatened to execute a Croatian kidnapped in Cairo last month within 48 hours if Muslim women jailed in Egypt are not freed.
The man is the first foreigner to be abducted and threatened with death by militants in Egypt since an Islamist insurgency erupted two years ago.
In a video posted online by the jihadists, the Croatian identifies himself as Tomislav Salopek appears kneeling at the feet of a hooded man holding a knife, wearing an orange jumpsuit, saying he will be executed within 48 hours if Egyptian government fails to release a Muslim women held in prisons. But did not say when the countdown began.
Salopek said he works for the French company CGG’s branch office in Cairo.
He said he was kidnapped on July 22 by Sinai Province group, the IS’ Egyptian affiliate based in Sinai Peninsula. Which used to called Ansar Beit al-Maqdis before it changed its name after pledging allegiance to IS in November.
Two days after the kidnapping, the Croatian foreign ministry said in a statement that he was abducted as he traveled to work. He added “The armed group stopped his car, forced the driver out and drove away in an unknown direction,”
Salopek is the first foreigner to be abducted and threatened with death by militants in Egypt since the Islamist insurgency broke out after the army’s ouster of president Mohamed Morsi in 2013.
