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Croatia fears worst for hostage, but can't confirm his killing: PM

Xinhua, August 13, 2015 Adjust font size:

Croatian Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic said on Wednesday he could not confirm a Croatian hostage held by IS in Egypt had been killed with one hundred percent certainty, but the situation did not look promising.

At an extraordinary press conference in the later afternoon, Milanovic said that "we cannot confirm with 100 percent certainty that it is true and I do not know if we will be able to confirm it in the coming days either, however what we have seen does not look promising."

Earlier IS has uploaded a photo on its Twitter account claiming that it was showing the 31-year-old hostage Tomislav Salopek's beheaded body.

Milanovic said that Croatia would not cease all efforts, "digging as long as a glimpse of hope remains."

He added his government would offer every aid to Salopek's family.

Salopek, a father of two, was kidnapped in Cairo on July 22 on his way to work by armed men who were believed from the Egyptian affiliate of the IS group.

The IS threatened to kill Salopek, who was working as a topographer for French oil company Compagnie Generale de Geophysique (CGG), if Egyptian authority did not freed the Muslim women jailed in Egypt. Endit