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Croatia says it fears the worst for one of its nationals abducted in Egypt but cannot confirm he has been beheaded by militants affiliated to Islamic State.

An Egyptian jihadist group has claimed it killed Tomislav Salopek, who was seized three weeks ago.

A photo purporting to show his body was posted on Twitter by a user associated with the group called Sinai Province.

Croatia has said it is likely a separate group kidnapped him before he was handed to the militants. A photo circulated online on Wednesday shows a decapitated body in what appears to be desert, beside a knife driven into the sand and the black banner used by IS.

The caption says the Croatian, a father of two aged about 30, was killed « for his country’s participation in the war against Islamic State ». Sinai Province had earlier threatened to kill him unless Egypt freed jailed Muslim women. He had been working as a surveyor for French geoscience company CGG, which is involved in the oil and gas industry.

Mr Salopek was seized while travelling about 22km (14 miles) west of Cairo on 22 July, security sources said. If the death is confirmed, it would be the first time that jihadist militants in Egypt have beheaded a Western hostage since stepping up their campaign against the state two years ago.

Frantic Search

The Croatian government could not confirm Mr Salopek’s death « with 100% certainty », Croatian Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic said in an address on Wednesday. « I am not sure if we will be in any position to confirm the news in the next few days, but what we can see doesn’t look good, it looks very bleak… I am afraid that the worst has happened. »

How can IS Death Claims Be Checked?

Mr Milanovic urged people not to share the gruesome image posted online. He also stressed that Croatia would not take part in combat operations against IS.
Croatia has previously said that while it was part of the international coalition against IS in the political sense – as a member of the EU and Nato – it had no plans to send troops to fight IS.

On Thursday, Croatia’s foreign minister, Vesna Pusic, again could not confirm the killing.
Ms Pusic said that because Mr Salopek’s captors had first requested a ransom, and then a different, later request came through demanding the release of Muslim women from Egyptian jails, Croatia concluded it was dealing with two different groups.

There is no official confirmation that Tomislav Salopek has been murdered, but his abduction marks a new and dangerous development in Egypt’s evolving security situation.

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Authorities are investigating claims the so-called Islamic State (IS) has published information about Australian officials, urging attacks on them.

A group claiming links to IS had allegedly obtained and published online data mostly about US defence officials.

The Australian government has confirmed at least eight Australians are on the list, including an MP. Justice Minister Michael Keenan said intelligence agencies were looking into the threats.

He said the list contained up to 1500 individuals including « at least eight Australians », he said on Thursday.
« If there was any threat to any Australians’ physical security then obviously we would take the appropriate action to make sure that people are safe, » Mr Keenan said.

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A judge in the north-western Mexican state of Sonora has ordered the arrest of 22 people in connection with a deadly fire in a nursery in 2009.

Forty-nine children died and more than 70 were seriously injured when flames spread through the ABC nursery, which did not have an emergency exit.

Relatives of the victims have long demanded justice saying the nursery did not comply with safety regulations.
But a lawyer for the relatives said the warrants targeted the wrong people.

Mistaken Move

Prosecutors asked a judge to issue the arrest warrants for the director of the nursery and some of its management and teachers. Gabriel Alvarado, a lawyer for the relatives’ group Hands United for Our Children called the move « erroneous » arguing it did not target the officials responsible for the tragedy. He said it could punish those who had risked their own lives, and in some cases had suffered injuries, trying to save the children.

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El Salvador’s attorney general has issued about 300 arrest warrants for gang members suspected of « terrorist acts ».

Last month, gang members paralysed public transport when they ordered drivers to go on strike.

They torched buses and killed at least seven drivers who did not comply. El Salvador has one of the highest murder rates in the world, much of it caused by violence between two rival gangs.

Deadly Toll

Following a truce between the Mara Salvatrucha and the Barrio 18 gang, brokered in 2012, the murder rate dropped by 40%. But as the truce crumbled, the number murders rose again.

So far in August, 24 people have been killed on average every day, police said on Monday.

Attorney General Luis Martinez said the gangs had « gone too far, they attack the police and prosecutors, they intimidate the population and force people to leave their homes ». This year alone, 41 police officers, 14 soldiers and a prosecutor have been killed. Mr Martinez said the arrest warrants were part of « a new strategy to impose order ».

The crackdown follows July’s gang-imposed public transport strike which paralysed the capital, San Salvador. The gangs called the strike as a means of pressuring the government into including them in talks on how to reduce urban violence. President Salvador Sanchez Ceren has ruled out negotiating with the gangs.

There are an estimated 70,000 active gang members in El Salvador.

The Mexican government has banned free baby formula at hospitals in an effort to encourage breastfeeding.

Health authorities said baby formula would still be available for purchase in shops and could be supplied at a doctor’s request.

But they said the country needed to boost low breastfeeding rates.

Mexico has one of the lowest levels in Latin America. Only one in seven mothers breastfeed exclusively during the baby’s first six months. The World Health Organisation says exclusive breastfeeding for six months is the optimal way of feeding infants. It says thereafter infants should receive complementary foods with continued breastfeeding up to two years of age or beyond. The Mexican health authorities said Mexico’s poor record is problematic in a country where millions of people live in extreme poverty and drinking water is often dirty or contaminated.