

A screenshot from a video released by jihadist group Jund al-Khilafah reads "Message of blood for the French government." (Courtesy of SITE Intelligence Group)

Islamist militants in Algeria who have sworn allegiance to the Islamic State beheaded a French hostage, according to video footage that emerged Wednesday. The French national, identified as Herve Gourdel, 55, was kidnapped Sunday while hiking in mountains southeast of the capital Algiers.

The militants, who claimed to belong to Jund al-Khilafah ("The Caliphate's Soldiers"), had announced his capture Monday and warned that Gourdel would be executed if the government of French President Francois Hollande did not halt its airstrikes on Islamic State positions in Iraq. They gave Hollande 24 hours to comply.

"As grave as the situation is, we will give in to no blackmail, no pressure, no ultimatum. No terrorist group can in any way influence France's position, will, and freedom," the French president said Tuesday.

The video depicting Gourdel's execution was obtained by the SITE Intelligence Group, the same monitoring organization that circulated footage of the beheadings of American nationals James Foley and Steven Sotloff by the Islamic State.

In the video — titled, in French, "A message of blood for the French Government" — Gourdel is seen kneeling on the ground before a group of masked, armed men. One man intones a speech in Arabic, acknowledging the authority of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the self-styled "caliph" of the Islamic State. Then, the militants are seen approaching Gourdel with a knife. The screen fades to black and then we see what appears to be Gourdel's severed head resting on his body.



Hervé Gourdel is seen with his captors moments before his execution in the video distributed by SITE Intelligence Group.

Jund al-Khilafah, according to SITE, has pledged allegiance to the Islamic State and said in an earlier video that it was responding to a call by the Islamic State's spokesman Abu Muhammad al-Adnani to attack citizens of countries participating in the U.S.-led campaign against the Islamic State. Al-Adnani made specific reference to the "spiteful and filthy French."

Little is known about the organization, which, Reuters reports, announced its split from al-Qaeda's North African wing (known by the acronym AQIM) on Sept. 14. It is not clear what actual operational links, if any, it has with the Islamic State.

A senior White House official said: "We've seen the reports. Clearly, if true this would be another horrific action that is a affront to all of humanity. The United States would obviously stand in full solidarity with our French allies," the official said. "But really our thoughts and prayers would be with the family. I’d note that this was a group that claims affinity for [the Islamic State] not necessary a group that is under direct control or direction from [Islamic State]."

Another al-Qaeda-affiliated group called Jund al-Khilafah has been known to operate in Pakistan's tribal areas and was credited with training Mohamed Merah, a French national of Tunisian origin who carried out a killing spree in the city of Toulouse in 2012. It doesn't appear to have any connection with the AQIM splinter that captured and apparently killed Gourdel.

Algeria is home to a constellation of militant groups, some of which have ties to al-Qaeda. Others emerged following the country's near-decade-long civil war between Islamists and government forces, which led to the deaths of more than 150,000 people. There are an estimated 200 Algerian nationals in the ranks of rebel factions fighting in Syria.

--David Nakamura contributed reporting from Washington.