This
combination of undated photos taken from the Islamic State group's online
magazine Dabiq purports to show Ole Johan Grimsgaard-Ofstad, 48, from Oslo, Norway,
left, and Fan Jinghui, 50, from Beijing, China.
The extremist group published two images of the men
in the second-to-last page of its English-language magazine, saying they had
been “executed after being abandoned by kafir nations and organisations”.
“Kafir” is the Arabic word for infidel. In the images, the men appeared to have
both been shot dead.
A screenshot of the Dabiq page which announced the
pair's execution. The group had earlier identified the Norwegian man as Ole
Johan Grimsgaard-Ofstad, 48, from Oslo, and the Chinese man as Fan Jinghui, 50,
a freelance consultant from Beijing. It did not say when or where the two were
captured.
The Islamic State group controls large areas in
Iraq and Syria. The killing of the two men stood in contrast to other filmed
beheadings and atrocities carried out by the group since seizing a third of
Iraq in a lightning advance in 2014.
The demand for a cash ransom also stood in contrast
to the group’s other hostage demands. The announced killings come as Islamic
State militants face increasing airstrikes from a variety of countries,
including the United States, Russia and France, as well as ground attacks from
Kurdish and other forces.
In September, the Chinese foreign ministry
confirmed that the Chinese national reported as being held hostage by Islamic
State insurgents appeared to be one of its missing citizens.
The State-run Beijing News said it had
located an advertising company in western Beijing registered to Fan using the
partial address provided in the magazine. Photo: AP
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