French Mountaineer Beheaded by ISIS-Aligned Extremists in Algeria

By Brian Ries

A terrorism watchdog says Algerian extremists allied with the Islamic State have killed a French hostage.
The extremist group, which calls itself Jund al-Khilafah, said that Herve Gourdel, who was abducted on Sunday, would be killed within 24 hours unless France ended its airstrikes against the militants in Iraq. The French government has insisted it will not back down.

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U.S. terrorism watchdog SITE Intelligence Group says Jund al-Khilafah released a video online Wednesday that claimed Gourdel had been killed. He was a 55-year-old mountaineering guide from Nice, France. The French government would not immediately comment.

Jund al-Khilafah in Algeria Beheads French Hostage in Video http://t.co/pU8GpB6nIJ
— SITE Intel Group (@siteintelgroup) September 24, 2014

Anup Kaphle, a digital foreign editor at the Washington Post, tweeted that he had seen the video and it was "more terrifying to watch than the ones released by ISIS" in Syria and Iraq. Mashable has not yet seen the video, but a screen grab published by SITE showed it did not appear to have the same high-production value as was seen in previous ISIS execution videos.
He was last seen in a video released by the terrorists announcing that he had been captured.


Gourdel was abducted Sunday night while driving through Algeria's rugged Kabylie region, which remains one of the last active areas of operation for al-Qaida in Algeria.
He was taken with four Algerian companions who were later released.
Algerian police and soldiers had combed the imposing Djurdjura mountains on Tuesday, searching for the kidnapped Frenchman that a security official said had been snatched by a former al-Qaida commander.

Residents there described roads choked with military trucks and helicopters clattering overhead as security forces fanned out through the rugged region that has long been a hotbed for extremist groups.
Speaking to reporters at the United Nations General Assembly in New York before news of the beheading broke, French President Francois Hollande said he had "plenty of confidence" in Algerian security forces that "everything will be done so that we can recover our compatriot."



He said France was acting against terrorism in the face of threats.
"As grave as the situation is, we will give in to no blackmail, no pressure, no ultimatum," he said. "No terrorist group can in any way influence France's position, will, and freedom."
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The Associated Press contributed to this report.