EGYPT-CROATIA/HOSTAGE-PM Croatian PM cannot '100 percent confirm' death of Croatian hostage

Record ID: 144295

  • Title: EGYPT-CROATIA/HOSTAGE-PM Croatian PM cannot '100 percent confirm' death of Croatian hostage
  • Date: 12th August 2015
  • Summary: ZAGREB, CROATIA (AUGUST 12, 2015) (REUTERS) ***WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** TELEVISION CREW IN FRONT OF GOVERNMENT BUILDING FLAGS OF CROATIA AND EUROPEAN UNION ON BUILDING CROATIAN PRIME MINISTER, ZORAN MILANOVIC, ARRIVING AT NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (Croatian) PRIME MINISTER OF CROATIA, ZORAN MILANOVIC, SAYING: "We have to break the silence, somebody has to do it. My duty is to tell the Croatian public what we saw - and of course, it's horrific - and that at this moment we cannot, with 100 percent certainty - I emphasise, 100 percent certainty - we cannot confirm that this is true. I don't know if we will be able to [confirm] in the following days. But what we see doesn't look good, it looks awful." JOURNALISTS FILMING
  • Embargoed: 27th August 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Croatia
  • Country: Croatia
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA8LW6FFHTKTKVNJGLQHV4LVLDB
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Croatian Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic said on Wednesday (August 12) the government could not confirm "with 100 percent certainty" the death of a Croatian hostage purportedly beheaded by Sinai Province, the Egyptian offshoot of Islamic State.
    He told reporters at a news conference that authorities have been trying to confirm the authenticity of a still photo that showed a headless body which are being circulated on Twitter by social media accounts supportive of Sinai Province.
    "We have to break the silence, somebody has to do it. My duty is to tell the Croatian public what we saw - and of course, it's horrific - and that at this moment we cannot, with 100 percent certainty - I emphasise, 100 percent certainty - we cannot confirm that this is true. I don't know if we will be able to [confirm] in the following days. But what we see doesn't look good, it looks awful," Milanovic told reporters.
    30-year-old Croatian man Tomislav Salopek, employed in Egypt by a French company which specialises in oil and gas geology, was kidnapped on July 22 while travelling to Cairo and shown last week in a video released online by an Islamic State affiliate.
    In the video the group said they would kill him in 48 hours if Muslim women in Egyptian jails were not freed.
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