Hervé Gourdel beheaded
Hervé Gourdel, 55, a mountain guide from Nice, France, was kidnapped in Algeria's Kabylie region by the Algerian group Jund al-Khilafa (Soldiers of the Caliphate), which had pledged allegiance to Islamic State on 14 September 2014. The group demanded that France halt its air strikes on IS in Iraq. When the deadline passed it killed him and posted a video titled "Message of blood for the French government" (BBC).
President François Hollande, speaking at the United Nations in New York, condemned the killing as a "cruel and cowardly" act and said French air strikes would continue (BBC). In his official statement the Élysée quotes him: "Notre compatriote Hervé GOURDEL a été assassiné par un groupe terroriste, lâchement, cruellement." ("Our compatriot Hervé Gourdel was murdered by a terrorist group, in a cowardly and cruel way.") He also said: "Hervé GOURDEL est mort parce qu'il était français" ("Hervé Gourdel died because he was French").
On 15 January 2015 the BBC reported that Gourdel's body had been found near Akbil, south-east of Algiers. Army sources said it was found using information from one of two men arrested over the case. The BBC said Abdelmalek Gouri, who claimed responsibility for the killing, had been killed in an Algerian army attack in December 2014.
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