Austria says receives no demand of ransom from IS

VIENNA - The Austrian Foreign Affairs Ministry said Monday it has not received any demand from extremist group Islamic State (IS) to pay ransom for the release of an Austrian national allegedly kidnapped by the group.

Austria's largest newspaper Kronen Zeitung cited various Serbian media outlets as saying that an Austrian man was kidnapped by the IS militants during an attack on Libyan oil field al-Ghani on March 6 and the group has allegedly demanded a 500,000-US-dollar ransom for his release.

According to news reports, the 39-year-old Austrian hostage, Dalibor S., is of Serbian origin and Serbian media said the information about the kidnapping and ransom came from the Serbian secret service, which has taken up contact with the IS kidnappers.

Even if the kidnapping were true, Austria would not pay the ransom since European Union (EU) foreign ministers have previously agreed not to succumb to such a demand from terrorists, EU Counter-Terrorism Coordinator Gilles de Kerchove said in an interview with the Austria Press Agency Friday.