IS affiliate in Egypt issues threat to kill Croat hostage

CAIRO – An Islamic State affiliate released a video Wednesday threatening to kill a Croatian hostage if Egyptian authorities do not release “Muslim women” held in prison within 48 hours, a day before the country plans to unveil a highly promoted new extension of the Suez Canal.

The video, circulated on social media by Islamic State sympathizers, shows a man wearing a yellow jumpsuit kneeling in the desert before a knife-wielding masked man in military fatigues. A black Islamic flag often used by the extremists flutters next to him. The video identifies itself as coming from the media arm of the Islamic State affiliate in Egypt’s lawless Sinai Peninsula.

Reading calmly from a note in English, the man identifies himself as Tomislav Salopek, a married, 30-year-old father of two, adding that Islamic State fighters captured him on July 22. If Egyptian authorities do not act, he said, “the soldiers from Wilayet Sina will kill me.” Wilayet Sina is the Arabic phrase for the Egyptian group calling itself the Sinai Province of the Islamic State.

It was not clear where the video was shot. The Associated Press could not independently verify the footage, though it was shot in the style of previous Islamic State propaganda videos in which they threaten and behead hostages.

The reference to “Muslim women” apparently referred to Islamists who have been arrested in a broad government crackdown on dissent. Egypt, a majority Muslim country, now holds thousands of Islamists and suspected supporters of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood group in prison following the 2013 military overthrow of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi.

Croatian state television read out a statement on air Wednesday night saying the government was “doing all it can to promptly resolve the difficult situation,” without elaborating. Croatian authorities could not be immediately reached and its embassy in Cairo was closed on Wednesday, which is a public holiday in Croatia celebrating its independence in the Balkan wars of the 1990s.

An Egyptian security official said last month that Salopek is a petroleum engineer who was abducted by gunmen while driving on a highway west of Cairo.

The Egyptian government had no immediate comment on the video Wednesday. Today, Egypt plans to unveil an $8.5 billion extension of the Suez Canal, a major event the government hopes will show the world it has recovered from the years of turmoil it has faced.

Elsewhere in the Middle East, Iraqi forces battled Islamic State militants Wednesday in western Anbar province, leaving at least 17 troops dead, officials said.