ISIS says executed Norwegian, Chinese captives

(ANSA) - Rome, November 18 - The Islamic State said Wednesday it has killed Norwegian and Chinese captives after earlier demanding ransoms for the two men, the Associated Pres reported.
    The extremist group published two images of the men in the second-to-last page of its glossy English-language magazine, saying they had been "executed after being abandoned by kafir nations and organizations." "Kafir" is the Arabic word for infidel. In the images, the men both appeared to have been shot to death.
    There was no immediate reaction in Beijing to the announcement, nor from the state-run Xinhua news agency.
    The Norwegian prime minister's office could not confirm the death. Its spokeswoman Trude Maseide told the Norwegian news agency NTB that there are "published photos that indicate that the hostage Ole Johan Grimsgaard-Ofstad has been executed. We are trying to get it verified and will come back with further information." Grimsgaard-Ofstad has previously been identified as a 48-year-old graduate student in political philosophy from Porsgrunn, south of Oslo. The Chinese man had been identified as Fan Jinghui, 50, a self-described "wanderer" from Beijing who once taught middle school.