The IS militant group claims it has taken a Norwegian and a Chinese man as hostages, and has posted notices describing the two men as “for sale“ in the latest edition of its propaganda magazine.
Pictures of the men dressed in yellow jumpsuits appeared in the final pages of the 11th edition of `Dabiq', an online English-language magazine released by the group's media arm. In what it describes as a “limited time offer“, IS names the men along with details of their ages and occupations and provides a telegram number.It says: “Whoever would like to pay the ransom for his release and transfer can contact the following.“
Speaking at a press conference in Oslo on Wednesday , the Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg confirmed that “everything indicates“ IS had captured the Norwegian national in his 40s.
She said the man was captured in Syria at the end of January and been held by various different groups before falling into IS hands.
“The kidnappers have put forward a series of de mands for significant ransom amounts,“ she said.
“Our goal is to bring our citizen home. But let me be clear: This is a very challenging case. We neither can nor will give in to pressure from terrorists and criminals.Norway does not pay ransom. This is a principle we cannot depart from in the fa ce of cynical terrorists.“
Solberg said that to give in to ransom demands would “increase the risk that other Norwegian nationals will be taken hostage“, and said her government had instead en gaged with “several other co untries (and) various parties in the region that could assi st our efforts“.
China confirms national's abduction
Chinese foreign ministry on Thursdy verified reports that a Chinese consultant had been abducted and put up on sale by Islamic State militants. The ministry spokesman said China was opposed to any violence against innocent citizens. The English language magazine, Dabiq, carried pictures of the two prisoners with tags hanging from their necks that said, “Chinese prisoner on sale“ and “Norwegian prisoner on sale“. The magazine carried pictures of the two men, taken from different angles, in yellow jumpsuits. Saibal Dasgupta
Jihadis of the Islamic State group edged closer to a strategic airbase in eastern Syria in heavy clashes that left 54 fighters dead, a monitoring group said on Thursday. The extremist group, which has captured territory across Iraq and Syria, seized control late on Wednesday of an army post near the regime-held military airbase outside Deir Ezzor, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
“It was one of the Islamic State's fiercest attacks on the airport,“ Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman said, using an Arabic acronym for the jihadi group. He said 36 IS fighters and 18 regime soldiers were killed. The seizure of the army post, used by a rocket battalion, advanced IS to barely one kilometre from the airport.
Abdel Rahman said the jihadis had used two suicide bombers in the assault, one of them a child, driving cars laden with explosives.
