China vowed on Thursday to bring to justice those responsible for executing one of its citizens after self-styled Islamic State (IS) said it had killed a Chinese captive, the only known Chinese hostage to have been held by the group.
IS said it had killed a Chinese and Norwegian captive, showing pictures of what appeared to be the dead men under a banner reading “Executed” in the latest edition of its English-language online magazine, Dabiq.
It did not give any details in the magazine, published on Wednesday, about how, when or where the men were killed.
In a brief statement, China’s Foreign Ministry confirmed the man’s identify for the first time, naming him as Fan Jinghui, saying he had been “cruelly murdered”. It said in September one of its citizens appeared to be in Islamic State captivity.
Beijing had activated an emergency mechanism to try and rescue him, but he was still killed in a “cold-blooded way”, the ministry said. It gave no details on how they might have extracted him.
“The Chinese government strongly condemns this savage act devoid of humanity and will certainly bring the criminals to justice,” the statement said.
“The Chinese government will resolutely oppose all forms of terrorism and resolutely strike at any violent terrorist criminal activities that defy the bottom lines of human culture,” it added, noting Beijing would strengthen anti-terrorism cooperation with the international community.
Chinese President Xi Jinping, visiting Manila for a regional summit, said he strongly condemned the killing.
The militant group had previously identified Fan as a 50-year-old freelance consultant from Beijing.
The state-run Beijing News said Fan was probably a former advertising executive who had once lived in a western suburb of Beijing, but that his company shut down in 2003.
