French Hostage Hervé Gourdel Beheaded by Algerian Militant Group Jund al-Khilafah

Algerian militant group Jund al-Khilafah (Soldiers of the Caliphate), which claims to be affiliated with the Islamic State, released a video showing the alleged beheading of a French man they had taken hostage. 55 year old Hervé Gourdel was kidnapped by Jund al-Khilafah while hiking in the Djurdjura National Park in Algeria.

Two days before the beheading, Jund al-Khilafah warned the French that they would behead Hervé Gourdel within 24 hours unless France halted its airstrikes on the Islamic State in Iraq. In response, French President Francois Hollande vowed the country would not be deterred from continuing its military action, so Jund al-Khilafah did what they had threatened to do. Apparently.

I say apparently because the beheading video they released is edited much in the same fashion as previously released beheading videos of James Foley, Steven Sotloff, or David Haines, whereby the video fades to black just before the act of beheading commences and then the picture resumes with the images of the victim headless. Although this one seems significantly more real.

The video, which Jund al-Khilafah titled “A Message with Blood to the French Government“, begins with a clip of François Hollande announcing air strikes against IS in Iraq at a press conference.

Hervé Gourdel is then shown kneeling with his hands behind his back in front of four masked militants armed with assault rifles.

The Frenchman briefly expresses his love for his family which is followed by one of the jihadists reading a speech from a paper, in which he denounces the actions of the “French criminal crusaders” against Muslims in Algeria, Mali and Iraq.

François Hollande said that Gourdel’s abduction and decapitation was a barbaric act of terrorism which presented a problem not only for the region but also for the world. He further vowed to continue striking ISIS positions.

Props to Best Gore member Carpetcrawler for the video:

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