Tag Archives: Algerian Militants

French hostage Herve Gourdel ‘Beheaded in Algeria’

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An Algerian jihadist group has released a video that appears to show the beheading of French tourist Herve Gourdel, who was seized on Sunday.

Militant group Jund al-Khilafa had set a 24-hour deadline on Tuesday for France to halt air strikes in Iraq.

Mr Gourdel, 55, was abducted in the north-east Kabylie region.

France joined the US last week in launching air strikes on Islamic State (IS) militants in Iraq but did not take part in the strikes on IS in Syria.

French President Francois Hollande and his Prime Minister, Manuel Valls, publicly rejected the group’s ultimatum on Tuesday.

The video of Mr Gourdel apparently being killed was entitled “Message of blood for the French government”, reports said.

 

French Tourist Abducted by Algerian Militants

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French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius has confirmed the abduction of a French tourist, Herve Gourdel, 55 by Algerian militant group Jund al-Khilafa, which is linked to ISIS. Algerian militant group Jund al-Khilafa threatened to kill him if France did not halt air strikes on Iraq.

Mr Fabius said an online video that showed Mr Gourdel flanked by armed men was authentic. He said France would do everything it could to liberate Mr Gourdel, but that the situation was “extremely critical.”

France on Monday raised the threat level for 30 of its embassies throughout the Middle East and Africa in response to what Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve called “yet another demonstration of the barbarism of these terrorists”.

French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said there would be “no discussion, no negotiation” with the kidnappers. “If you give in, if you go back one inch… you give [terrorism] this victory,” he told French radio while on a visit to Germany on Tuesday.