By AIDA CERKEZ
Two separate groups were involved in the kidnapping of Tomislav Salopek in Egypt — one that kidnapped him and asked for a ransom before handing him over to the Islamic State group, which reportedly killed him, Croatia’s Foreign Minister said Thursday.
Speaking in the Croatian coastal town of Rijeka, Vesna Pusic said the captors requested money from the company Salopek worked for. Then contact was broken and on Aug. 5 a video emerged showing Salopek as a hostage of the Islamic State branch in Egypt.
“No money request was made then but rather the release of Muslim women from Egyptian jails — which was a bad sign, as some 99 percent of the jailed women in Egypt are Muslim and the captors did not specify who they really wanted to be released,” she said.
“The conclusion was that there is no specific request and that we were dealing with two different organizations. One that kidnapped him and the other that identified itself as the Islamic State.”
Salopek’s killing, if confirmed, would be the first of a foreign captive in Egypt, where the government has been struggling to project an image of stability and revive the economy following years of unrest.
Pusic said she has met with representatives of other Croatian citizens working in Egypt and that they are considering stronger security measures for them, including the protection of the Egyptian army.
Authorities still have not confirmed Salopek’s killing and are continuing the search for him and his captors.
The IS radio station said on Thursday that its Egyptian affiliate killed a Croatian hostage, the first word from the extremist group a day after a gruesome image of his beheading circulated online.
Al-Bayan said that “soldiers of the Caliphate” killed Salopek, “whose country is participating in the war against the Islamic State.”
It said the killing came after a deadline passed for “the renegade Egyptian government” to meet his captors’ demands to free jailed women.
