China’s plan to rescue Islamic State hostage Fan Jinghui ‘foiled by Russian and French air strikes’
France and Russia got in way of attempt by Beijing to pay ransom, says former reporter
China was making progress in rescuing hostage Fan Jinghui, who was killed by Islamic State, before its attempt was thwarted by Russian and French air strikes on the terrorist group, Chinese media have reported.
Qiu Yongzheng, a former war correspondent who now works for a Chinese think tank, told the social-media account of People’s Daily that IS had made a ransom request to Fan’s family and relevant departments in the government through different channels. Beijing had been communicating with the group.
“We even knew that the hostage was located approximately in the Anbar province of Iraq, and the rescue effort had made certain progress,” Qiu was quoted as saying. “But recently, countries such as Russia and France started heavy air strikes against IS, which upset the group’s overall arrangement and original plans.
“This had led to the interruption of channels to rescue the hostage. Since IS did not receive the money, they killed him.”
Read more: A drifter who thrived on insecurity: the Chinese hostage killed by Islamic State
France has been conducting air strikes in Syria against IS since September 27, and Moscow since six weeks ago.