I want to believe and hope that my Tomislav is still alive

-I want to believe and hope that my Tomislav is still alive. Hope dies last, said the wife of Tomislav Salopek, Nataša, for whom the Islamic State claims to have executed him, told AFP on Wednesday, reports the news agency Patria.

A photograph has been published that should prove this, but there is no official confirmation that the kidnapped Croatian citizen is in it. This was also pointed out by Prime Minister Zoran Milanović, who addressed the nation yesterday afternoon and stated:

-We cannot confirm with one hundred percent certainty the news of the killing of Tomislav Salopek, I do not know if we will be able to do so in the coming days, but what we saw does not look good, it looks terrible.

Tomislav's closest relatives, as well as the residents of his hometown of Vrpolje, do not want to believe the worst-case scenario until official confirmation arrives. Tomislav went to Egypt to work as a topographer for a French company, and was kidnapped on July 22 on his way to work. He was pulled out of a car in the middle of Cairo.

Members of ISIL published a message next to the photograph stating that they killed the Croatian hostage because of his country's participation in the war against IS.