New Video Purportedly Shows Beheading Of French Hostage

By Scott Neuman / NPR

Published September 24, 2014 at 7:38 AM PDT

This story was published more than 10 years ago.

In this still image from video published on the Internet on Wednesday, by a group calling itself Jund al-Khilafah, or Soldiers of the Caliphate, shows members of the group standing behind French mountaineer Herve Gourdel just before beheading him.

Algerian extremists have announced the apparent beheading of a French mountain guide kidnapped over the weekend in the North African country.

NPR's Eleanor Beardsley reports that the video purporting to show hostage Herve Gourdel's killing is being investigated by French intelligence to see if it's authentic.

The Algerian group that calls itself Jund al-Khilafah, or the "Soldiers of the Caliphate," and is purportedly an offshoot of the self-declared Islamic State, had earlier threatened to kill the 55-year-old Gourdel unless France ended airstrikes against ISIS fighters in Iraq.

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Eleanor says: "The video released is said to resemble those showing the apparent beheadings of two American journalists and a British aid worker in recent weeks.

The New York Times says:

"The killing of Mr. Gourdel signals that the Islamic State's practice of beheading Western captives for propaganda purposes has spread beyond the area it controls in Syria. Numerous smaller factions in the Middle East and elsewhere have pledged allegiance to the group."