Hervé Gourdel
Jund al-Khilafah in Algeria Beheads French Hostage in Video http://t.co/pU8GpB6nIJ
- SITE Intel Group (@siteintelgroup) September 24, 2014
Gourdel, a mountaineering guide from Nice was seized in mountains of northern Algeria, in what the group said was a response to France's air strikes targeting ISIS militants in Iraq.
"Our values are at stake," French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said Wednesday after hearing about the video, the Associated Press reports. He would not comment further, but minutes earlier he insisted that France would continue fighting in Iraq as long as necessary. French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius echoed the same sentiment and vowed that ISIS threats would not deter French participation in a U.S.-led coalition of nations.
On Monday the video, masked gunmen pledged their allegiance to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi the apparent leader of ISIS and claimed responsibility for the abduction of Gourdel.
Resembling the execution videos of American journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff, and British aid worker David Haines, the video shows Gourdel kneeling with his arms tied behind his back before four masked militants who read out a statement in Arabic criticizing France. They then pushed him on his side and held him down. The video does not show the beheading, but a militant holds his head up to the camera.
There was no immediate confirmation from the French or Algerian governments.
Western diplomats and intelligence sources say they believe there are fewer than 10 Western hostages still held by Islamic State. The group has recently killed two Americans, James Foley and Steven Sotloff, and one Briton,David Haines, and threatened to kill another Briton, Alan Henning.
The kidnapping was one of the first abductions of a foreigner by militants in Algeria since the North African country ended its decade-long war with Islamist fighters in the 1990s.
(Reporting by Patrick Markey; Editing by Will Waterman)