Pro-ISIS fighters with the Jund al-Khilifa terrorist group in Algeria released a video Monday of hostage Hervé Gourdel who was kidnapped last weekend.
The hostage delivered a message to President Francois Hollande:
“I am in the hands of Jund al-Khilifa, an Algerian armed group. This armed group is asking me to ask you (President Francois Hollande) to not intervene in Iraq. They are holding me as a hostage and I ask you Mr President to do everything to get me out of this bad situation and I thank you.”
The pro-ISIS group gave France twenty-four hours to stop “the aggression against ISIL” or they will behead their hostage.
Algerian authorities have now identified one of the terrorists in the video. He is wanted in Algeria for joining al-Qaeda.
Anadolu Agency reported:
Algerian authorities have identified a Mauritanian militant as one of the kidnappers of a French national abducted Sunday in the northeastern Kabylie region, a security source said Tuesday.
On Monday, the self-styled “Jund al-Khilifa” group claimed responsibility for kidnapping the Frenchman, calling on France to halt its military campaign against the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL) in exchange for the captive’s release.
The French hostage has appeared in a video flanked by two hooded men as he appeals toFrench President Francois Hollande to intervene to secure his release.
One of the kidnappers speaks in the video, giving France a 24-hour deadline by which to halt its anti -ISIL campaign. Otherwise, the kidnapper threatens, the group would kill thehostage.
The security source said the militant who speaks in the video had been identified as Ismail Ould Makni, a 34-year-old Mauritanian man wanted by the Algerian authorities for allegedly joining Al-Qaeda in 2006.
“The militant was recognized by voiceprint technology after the authorities scanned the video posted by the militant group,” the source told Anadolu Agency on condition of anonymity.
Last week, Jund al-Khilifa broke away from Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), pledging allegiance instead to the ISIL, which recently captured vast swathes of Iraqi and Syrian territory.
So far, there has been no update by the terror group on Hervé Gourdel’s condition.
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