The radical Islamist group Jund al-Khilifa beheaded French tourist Hervé Gourdel, 55, in Algeria after abducting him from a hiking trip, as reported at France 24.
The ISIS wannabe group, translated to mean “Soldiers of the Caliphate in Algeria” released a beheading video, which received little coverage in the United States where the victim “called on French President François Hollande not to intervene in Iraq.”
Islamist group Jund al-Khilifa “emerged earlier this month, when a regional commander of Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) released a statement announcing that he had broken away from al Qaeda and had sworn loyalty to IS group.” The video was not posted, but was described to be clearly modeled after the ISIS beheading videos:
“The four-minute video begins with footage of Hollande announcing French strikes against IS targets in Iraq before cutting to clips of air strikes. The footage then fades to black before the title, “Message in Blood to the French Government” appears in French and Arabic. Gourdel is then shown kneeling in a grey T-shirt before four hooded militants, two of them bearing assault rifles while another reads out a message in Arabic denouncing French military operations in Iraq, Algeria and Mali.”
Here is a screen capture via Twitter:
President Obama commented on the loss of Hervé Gourdel at the UN Security Council in New York,
“We stand with you and the French people as you grieve this terrible loss and as you stand up against terror and the defense of liberty.”
The video was “released hours after the Islamic State (IS) group issued an audio statement calling on Muslims worldwide to kill citizens of nations that have joined the fight against the jihadist group in Iraq.”
Islamic State group spokesman Abu Mohammed al-Adnani called on followers to “,kill a disbelieving American or European – especially the spiteful and filthy French – or an Australian, or a Canadian, or any other disbeliever from the disbelievers waging war, against the group.”
Thousands flooded the streets in France to pay tribute to Mr. Gourdel.
Sa ville lui devait cet hommage. Merci aux milliers de personnes venues pour soutenir la famille d’Hervé #Gourdel pic.twitter.com/tkvCq2eKy6
— Christian Estrosi (@cestrosi) September 27, 2014
Des milliers de personnes pour rendre hommage à Hervé #Gourdel #Nice06 pic.twitter.com/ltB5M0sgTx — Ville de Nice (@VilledeNice) September 27, 2014
#France: Thousands Of French #Muslims Protest Herve #Gourdel Beheading – IB TIMES – http://t.co/gHljngiUqn #ISIL pic.twitter.com/C4hRfrrcym
— Dio Perix (@DioPerix) September 27, 2014
Hervé #Gourdel has been killed by men without souls, #jihadists please stand where you are, we will come and get you pic.twitter.com/MtJHUX8LXD — Ubi libertas (@ibi__patria) September 25, 2014
