image source, Herve Gourdel. google plus
Gourdel is an experienced mountain guide and photographer.
An extremist group linked to the self-styled Islamic State followed a French tourist in Algeria, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said Tuesday.
Herve Gourdel, 55, was captured on Sunday, in the unstable area of Kabylia, in the northeast of the country.
The Jund al Khilifa group has threatened to kill him if France does not stop bombing Iraq.
The Algerian Interior Ministry said Gourdel was traveling with two Algerians in the mountains near the town of Ait Ouabane when they were stopped by gunmen, who abandoned the Algerians but kidnapped the Frenchman.
Fabius said an online video spread showing Gourdel surrounded by armed men is authentic.
The foreign minister also said that France would do everything possible to free him, but acknowledged that the situation was “extremely critical.”
Islamic State had announced that France – and other countries – had become one of its targets after French jets bombed the group in Iraq.
French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said that “there will be no discussions, there will be no negotiations” with the kidnappers.
The Argentine group Jund al Khilifa, also known as Soldiers of the Caliphate, has sworn allegiance to IS. Some reports also describe it as a splinter of al Qaeda.
On Monday France raised the alert level at 30 of its embassies in the Middle East and Africa, after beginning airstrikes against IS in Iraq on Friday.
France says everything possible must be done to eliminate IS from the region.
