Beheading of French hostage a cowardly assassination: Hollande

PARIS — An Algerian militant group beheaded a Frenchman it had kidnapped three days earlier, in retaliation for French air strikes in Iraq, President Francois Hollande has confirmed.

“Our citizen Herve Gourdel was assassinated by a cowardly, cruel terrorist group,” Mr Hollande said on Wednesday from New York, where he was attending the United Nations General Assembly.

“He died because he is French, from a country that fights terrorism. My determination is total and this barbarism only reinforces it.”

The Caliphate Soldiers, a splinter group linked to Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria, published a video on Monday claiming responsibility for the abduction and showed the man identifying himself as Mr Gourdel.

A French nature guide and photographer, Mr Gourdel was taken hostage when militants stopped his vehicle in the mountains east of Algiers where he had planned a hiking trip, said Algeria’s Interior Ministry statement.

On Wednesday, the SITE Intelligence Group, a watchdog that tracks militant movements, said on its website that the group, also known by its Arabic name Jund Al Khilafah, had posted a video of the beheading on the Internet.

The militant group, which has said it is allied with the Islamic State, had warned that it would kill Mr Gourdel if Mr Hollande did not end the French air strikes supporting the United States in Iraq, which began last week.

Mr Hollande said France would not be deterred by the killing of Mr Gourdel. “The military air operations will continue as long as necessary,” he said.

A senior US administration official in New York also reacted to the reports of Mr Gourdel’s execution.

“If true, this would be another horrific action that is an affront to all of humanity,” the official said on condition of anonymity. “The US would obviously stand in full solidarity with our French allies.”

Mr Gourdel’s death appeared to unite politicians, religious leaders and the public yesterday, with calls for greater action against the Islamic State, which has specifically urged its followers to attack French citizens.

France yesterday said it would increase security on transport and in public places following the killing. “Preventive measures against the risk of terrorism will be strengthened at public sites and on transport,” a statement from the French presidency said.

Islamic State militants, believed to be based in Syria, have posted videos of beheadings of two American journalists and a British aid worker, while threatening to kill a second British aid worker. Agencies