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The Vatican and the Italian government early this week said they could not confirm a media report that abducted Jesuit priest Paolo Dall’Oglio had been executed by his captors.
”We have not received any information about this and we cannot confirm it, the deputy director of the Vatican press office, Ciro Benedettini, told Adnkronos.
”Obviously, we hope that this case will be resolved positively, as soon as possible.”
“There is no confirmation so far of this news” the Italian foreign ministry said in a statement on a report from the al-Ahadath website that Dall’Oglio had been killed.
“There is news that elements belonging to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant,” said the website, which is close to the Syrian government.
The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant is an Al-Qaeda-affiliated militant group operating in Syria.
Opposition sources told Adnkronos International on Friday that text messages allegedly sent to an opposition activist from Dall’Oglio’s mobile phone claimed he was kidnapped by The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.
Daily protests calling for Dall’Oglio’s release have been held in the northern Syrian city of Raqqa since the priest disappeared there on July 28.
Italy’s foreign minister Emma Bonino said on Friday that Rome was “groping the dark” as the mystery surrounding Dall’Oglio’s fate deepened.
Sources
Image: AFP/Al Arabiya
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News category: World.
