ISIS Claims to have Executed Chinese, Norwegian Captives
The Islamic Group, also known as ISIS and ISIL, claimed to have executed two captives, a Chinese man and a Norwegian man, after their ransoms, which were made two months ago, failed to be paid.
The terrorist group published photographs of the men's bodies on Wednesday in their English-language magazine, Dabiq, with a caption that read, "executed after being abandoned by kafir nations and organizations," according to the New York Times. Kafir is Arabic for infidel. The captives appeared to have been shot dead. The Islamic State did not detail how and when they captured the two men.
The Norwegian man was previously identified by the group as 48-year-old Ole Johan Grimsgaard-Ofstad from Oslo. He was a graduate student. The Chinese man was Fan Jinghui, 50 from Beijing.
Shortly after the images surfaced, Rune Bjastad, a spokesman for the Norwegian Prime Minister, said, "we have no confirmation yet." Prior to the alleged execution, Prime Minister Erna Solberg had stated that Norway will not pay ransoms to the extremist group.
China has not officially released a statement about the deceased captive.
The execution announcement came after airstrikes from France, Russia and other nations have been hitting areas believed to be involved with the terrorist group. France carried out two sets of airstrikes in Raqqa, Syria after the attacks on Paris. ISIS had claimed responsibility for the Paris shootings and explosions that killed 129 people last Friday. The bombs reportedly target a command center and a training camp.
On top of the airstrikes, the French police have been conducting raids. The most recent raid Wednesday in Saint-Denis, a suburb of Paris, led to the arrest of seven suspects. Two terrorist suspects were killed.
