This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

President François Hollande has confirmed that a French citizen kidnapped in Algeria was beheaded by militants linked to Islamic State (Isis), and said the murder would only serve to reinforce his determination to support efforts against the jihadists.

The group calling itself Jund al-Khilafah – or Soldiers of the Caliphate – released a video that appeared to depict the beheading of Hervé Gourdel, 55, a mountain guide from Nice who had only arrived in Algeria the previous day. The video was entitled Message in Blood for the French Government.

In a speech at the United Nations in New York, Hollande said the killing would not prompt France to abandon military action against Isis and that it would continue to fight terrorism everywhere. “The perpetrators of this odious crime must be punished,” Hollande said.

The militants said that the murder of the Frenchman was a response to his government’s action against Isis in Iraq, where France launched its first air strikes last Friday.

The video shows Gourdel kneeling, with his arms tied behind his back, in front of four masked militants who read out a statement in Arabic criticising France’s military intervention. They then pushed him on his side and held him down.

The beheading is not shown, but one militant holds his severed head up to the camera. “This is why the Soldiers of the Caliphate in Algeria have decided to punish France, by executing this man, and to defend our beloved Islamic State,” one of the militants said in the video.

Gourdel briefly addressed his family before the militants gave their statement.

He was seized in the Djurdjura mountains, a range 2,000 metres high that have been described by one climber as a “dream for those who love mountains”, which was a particular interest of his.

“The irony is that for many years he trained mountain guides in Morocco,” a friend, Laurent Gény, told Le Point magazine. “He was someone who was a profoundly good person, very human, who loved Maghreban culture.

The release of the beheading video could have been timed to coincide with Barack Obama’s address to the General Assembly on Wednesday in which the US president urged the world to come together to defeat a jihadist “network of death” in Iraq and Syria.

The kidnappers, who are thought to be linked to Isis militants in Iraq and Syria, released a video showing Gourdel and claiming responsibility for his abduction. They warned that he would be killed within 24 hours if France did not stop airstrikes against Isis.

A massive manhunt had been under way in Algeria in a bid to rescue Gourdel.

Hollande’s vow on maintaining action against Isis echoed his foreign minister, Laurent Fabius, who said earlier this week that the kidnapping would not halt French participation in a US-led coalition against Isis.

The group’s spokesman, Abu Muhammad al-Adnani, has urged its followers to attack citizens of the US, France and other countries that joined the coalition.