ZAGREB: Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic said on Wednesday he was unable to confirm the death of a Croatian hostage that the Islamic State group claimed to have beheaded, but that he feared the worst.

"At this moment we cannot confirm with 100-per cent certainty that this is true and I don't know if we will be able to confirm that in the coming days, but what we see does not look good, looks horrible," Milanovic told reporters.

The Islamic State group claims to have beheaded Tomislav Salopek, who was abducted last mon-th in Egypt, posting a purported picture of the victim's body on IS-affiliated Twitter accounts. The picture's authenticity could not be immediately verified.

If confirmed, this would be the first time a Croatian citizen has been murdered by jihadists.