Ole Johan Grimsgaard-Ofstad

Ole Johan Grimsgaard-Ofstad's last communicated via his Facebook page on Jan. 24, announcing he had "finally made it" to Syria and was on his way to Hama. His prolific posting subsequently stopped.

Norwegian Foreign Minister Boerge Brende confirmed Thursday that the 48-year-old had been held since January, and that a picture shown in the latest issue of the militants' online magazine Dabiq, showing Grimsgaard-Ofstad in a yellow jumpsuit was believed to be recent.

The extremist group posted pictures of the two men wearing yellow prison outfits in the latest issue of its online magazine Dabiq, which was released Wednesday.

It identifies the Norwegian man as Ole Johan Grimsgaard-Ofstad, 48, from Oslo. It identifies the Chinese man as Fan Jinghui, 50, a freelance consultant from Beijing.

The magazine lists a telegram number for "whoever would like to pay the ransom for his release and transfer."