The Islamic State has claimed to be holding a Norwegian man and a Chinese consultant hostage, and demanded ransom for their release.Rico says that the Norwegians undoubtedly have a hostage rescue team standing by. (As for the poor Chinese schmuck, they've got a billion more like him at home...)
The extremist group posted pictures of the two men wearing yellow prison outfits in the latest issue of its online magazine Dabiq. It identifies the Norwegian man as Ole Johan Grimsgaard-Ofstad, 48, from Oslo, Norway, and the Chinese man as Fan Jinghui, 50, a freelance consultant from Beijing, China.
The magazine lists a telegram number for “whoever would like to pay the ransom for their release and transfer”. It does not say when or where the two were captured. The IS group controls large parts of Iraq and Syria, and has killed several captives in gruesome videos released online.
Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg, at a news conference in Oslo, confirmed that one of the hostages was a Norwegian man in his forties being held in Syria, and “everything indicates that the Islamic State group is behind it”. Solberg said the man was captured at the end of January 2015. “The kidnappers have presented a series of demands and significant amounts of ransom money,” she said. “We cannot give in and won’t give in to pressure from terrorists and criminals. Norway does not pay ransom.”
Despite the country’s unwillingness to pay ransom, Solberg said Norwegian authorities are working with various parties in several countries to free the hostage. “Our goal is to get our citizen home,” she said. “But let me be very clear, this is a very demanding case.”
Chinese officials could not immediately be reached for comment.
10 September 2015
ISIS claims more hostages
Time has an article by The Associated Press about the latest ISIS claim:
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