Islamic State militants based in Egypt's Sinai province had been tweeting a countdown to the imminent execution of a Croatian hostage since Wednesday, but the group's deadline has since passed with no word on the fate of their European captive.The tweets posted by the group, which claims affiliation with the self-styled Islamic State (IS), threatened to kill the Croatian hostage unless the Egyptian government released unspecified "Muslim women" from prison. The Twitter accounts have since been deactivated, and there was some confusion about the exact deadline, with some tweeting that time expired on Friday at 10:36am EST, and others saying it wasn't until 5:30pm EST.
A screenshot from a video released by militants shows Croatian hostage Tomislav Salopek and one of his captors.
In the video, Salopek appears in an orange jumpsuit in the middle of the desert with a masked militant. The footage is reminiscent of similar videos of other Western hostages that IS has previously released.It was not immediately clear which "Muslim women" Salopek was referring to in the video. The Egyptian government has not released any statements clarifying the uncertainty.According to the Croatian Foreign Ministry, Salopek, who is employed with the French company CGG in Egypt, was kidnapped from Cairo on July 22.Follow VICE News on Twitter: @vicenewsWatch the VICE News Documentary, The Islamic State:
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