A French tourist kidnapped by Islamist militants in Algeria in retaliation for French air strikes in Iraq has been killed by his captors.
A video posted on the internet showed the tourist, Herve Gourdel, captured on Sunday while walking in the mountains east of Algiers, apparently being beheaded.
François Hollande, French president, confirmed the murder on Wednesday, saying the killing of Mr Gourdel was “cowardly and cruel”.
The 55-year-old mountain guide from Nice was shown being held by gunmen in a previous video, authenticated by the French authorities, by a group called Jund al-Khalifah (Soldiers of the Caliphate). The group is an offshoot of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), which has allied itself with Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, known as Isis, and is led by a militant named Abdelmalek Gouri.
Algerian security forces launched a large operation to locate Mr Gourdel soon after his kidnapping was announced.
Geoff Porter, founder of North Africa Risk Consulting, said jihadi groups in the region were fracturing, leading to a process of “outbidding” where factions “felt compelled to carry out attacks” to distinguish themselves from the others.
He said Mr Gourdel was “a target of opportunity” who had been kidnapped in a remote part of the mountainous Kabilyia region east of Algiers. Villagers in the area have repeatedly reported groups of militants in the vicinity. The militants have for the most part left civilians alone, carrying out occasional attacks against the army and police.
Algeria fought armed Islamist extremists in a devastating 1990s civil war that left tens of thousands dead and entire towns in ruin. The country’s ruling establishment fears the emergence of a new generation of armed Islamist groups in the aftermath of the 2011 overthrow of Muammer Gaddafi in neighbouring Libya, which has loosed tens of thousands of weapons into the region and carved out a haven for extremists.
Another AQIM offshoot launched an assault in January last year on Algeria’s remote In Amenas gas plant that led to a days-long hostage stand-off and the death of dozens of expatriate and Algerian employees of the facility, managed by BP and Norway’s Statoil.
Mr Gourdel’s kidnapping came after a call by Isis for Muslims around the world to kill Americans and Europeans, specifically mentioning “filthy French”.
In its first video, Jund al-Khalifah threatened to kill the Frenchman if Paris did not end its participation in US-led military strikes in Iraq within 24 hours.
Mr Hollande had said on Tuesday before Mr Gourdel’s killing: “As grave as this situation is, we will not give in to any blackmail, any pressure, any ultimatum, no matter how odious, how despicable. No terrorist group can influence the will, position or freedom of France.”
France launched an air strike on a logistics depot belonging to Isis in the northeast of Iraq on Friday, its first such action in the region for 15 years. Paris has declined, however, to join US-led attacks in Syria.
The latest video, published by Jund al-Khalifah on Wednesday, was said to be similar to those published of the killings in Syria of two US journalists and a British aid worker held hostage by Isis.
France has warned its citizens in 30 Middle Eastern and African countries to “reinforce their vigilance against the risk of terrorism” and stepped up domestic security measures.
Additional reporting by Heba Saleh in Cairo
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