File Photo: Islamic State convoy in Syria.
The Islamic State (IS) group claimed today to have beheaded a Croatian hostage abducted in Egypt, posting a purported picture of the victim's body on IS-affiliated Twitter accounts.
The Croat, Tomislav Salopek, was abducted last month west of the capital Cairo. The jihadists had issued a 48-hour deadline that ended last Friday threatening to kill him if Muslim women prisoners were not released from Egyptian jails.
The picture's authenticity could not be immediately verified.
His abduction and purported killing were unprecedented in Egypt, which is battling an IS insurgency in the eastern Sinai Peninsula.
The picture was posted on IS-affiliated Twitter accounts with the caption: "Execution of prisoner from Croatia - which has participated in war on Islamic State - after deadline ended."
Salopek, a father of two, had been working with French geoscience company CGG when abducted from a car roughly 22 kilometres (14 miles) west of Cairo, security sources told AFP.
The abduction has rattled foreigners working for multinational companies and underscored the jihadists' reach despite a massive military campaign against IS.