The French government has confirmed that the tourist Herve Gourdel, who was kidnapped on Sunday, has been beheaded by an Algerian militant group with ties to Islamic State.
Gourdel, 55, was captured while walking in the mountains east of Algiers by Jund al-Khilafa (Soldiers of the Caliphate), a militant organisation that grew out of Algerian Islamist groups involved in the country's civil war in the 1990s. After taking Gourdel hostage, the jihadists issued an ultimatum to French president Francois Hollande to halt air strikes on IS militants within 24 hours. After the deadline passed, a video that appeared to show Gourdel's murder was posted online.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Jund al-Khilafa, led by a militant named Abdelmalek Gouri, has previously affiliated itself with al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). Algerian forces had launched a search for Gourdel shortly after he was kidnapped, but failed to locate him.
Geoff Porter, founder of North Africa Risk Consulting, told the Financial Times that jihadist groups in Algeria have been fracturing, and are now "outbidding" one another and carrying out attacks to try to distinguish themselves from the other groups.
Before he was captured, Gourdel had been a mountain guide in the Mercantour national park near his home town of Nice.
According to the BBC's Lucy Williamson, the fact that Gourdel was visiting a region popular with French tourists has added to the nation's shock.
Gourdel's kidnapping came after IS called for Muslims around the world to attack Americans and Europeans, specifically mentioning the "filthy French".
Throughout the 1990s Algeria fought a bloody civil war against Islamist militants, leading to tens of thousands of deaths. Authorities fear that political upheaval in neighbouring Libya after the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi has created a new generation of heavily armed extremists.
-
Film reviews: ‘Send Help’ and ‘Private Life’Feature An office doormat is stranded alone with her awful boss and a frazzled therapist turns amateur murder investigator
-
Movies to watch in Februarythe week recommends Time travelers, multiverse hoppers and an Iraqi parable highlight this month’s offerings during the depths of winter
-
ICE’s facial scanning is the tip of the surveillance icebergIN THE SPOTLIGHT Federal troops are increasingly turning to high-tech tracking tools that push the boundaries of personal privacy
-
Israel retrieves final hostage’s body from GazaSpeed Read The 24-year-old police officer was killed during the initial Hamas attack
-
China’s Xi targets top general in growing purgeSpeed Read Zhang Youxia is being investigated over ‘grave violations’ of the law
-
Panama and Canada are negotiating over a crucial copper mineIn the Spotlight Panama is set to make a final decision on the mine this summer
-
Why Greenland’s natural resources are nearly impossible to mineThe Explainer The country’s natural landscape makes the task extremely difficult
-
Iran cuts internet as protests escalateSpeed Reada Government buildings across the country have been set on fire
-
US nabs ‘shadow’ tanker claimed by RussiaSpeed Read The ship was one of two vessels seized by the US military
-
‘Lumpy skin’ protests intensify across France as farmers fight cullIN THE SPOTLIGHT A bovine outbreak coupled with ongoing governmental frustrations is causing major problems for French civil society
-
How Bulgaria’s government fell amid mass protestsThe Explainer The country’s prime minister resigned as part of the fallout
