The Islamic militant group, also called the Soldiers of the Caliphate, has known ties to the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). As reported by Al Jazeera, members of Jund al-Khilafa were previously associated with al-Qaeda. However, they eventually “pledged allegiance to ISIL” and formed their own militant group. It appears that the Frenchman’s kidnapping and beheading were in response airstrikes against ISIL. Last week, France joined the United States in their pledge to “degrade and destroy” the jihadist group. In response to the airstrikes, ISIL leader Muhammad al-Adnani called on supporters to strike...
The Inquisitr 2014-09-24Flags will be at half-mast for three days from Friday, after the murder in Algeria of hostage Herve Gourdel. The gesture - ordered by President Francois Hollande - shows...
BBC News 2014-09-25Share PhotoReddit✉ Algerian military trucks are pictured in the Tizi Ouzou region, northern Algeria, on Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2014, as troops conduct search operations in...
U~T San Diego 2014-09-25Beheaded by jihadists: A man who identified himself as French tourist Herve Gourdel sits between two masked gunmen in this still taken from a video. Photo: Reuters Algiers:...
Canberra Times 2014-09-24Herve Gourdel, a French citizen and mountaineer, was beheaded by a group called the Jund al-Khilafah, an Algerian extremist group associated with Isis. Gourdel’s tragic...
IMDb 2014-09-25
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Lisa Bryant PARIS— France vows to continue its aerial assault against Islamic State jihadists, striking targets Thursday in Iraq, despite the brutal slaying of a Frenchman by Islamist terrorists. The French government is tightening security at home amid fears the Jihadist offensive is spreading to new countries. French flags will be flying at half-staff on public buildings...
Voa News 2014-09-25French Prime Minister Manuel Valls on Tuesday defended France’s decision to carry out airstrikes against the Islamic State in Iraq in the face of threats by an allied Algerian jihadist group to execute a French hostage. “France is a great nation which accepts its responsibilities,” Mr. Valls told Europe 1 radio, declaring the airstrikes would “obviously continue.” “If we give...
The Hindu 2014-09-23Islamic terrorists in Algeria have kidnapped a Frenchman and threatened to behead him in response to ISIS’s call to murder Westerners. In a video posted online Monday, a Nice native identified as Herve Gourdel is seated between two masked men holding guns. “We are the soldiers of the Islamic State in Algeria responding to the message of [ISIS leader Abu Bakr] al-Baghdadi and...
New York Post 2014-09-23MOSCOW, September 24 (RIA Novosti) - The European Union has expressed condolences in connection with the murder by the Islamic State (IS) of the French national Hervé Gourdel and has pledged to contribute to the international fight against the militant group, reads the statement published on the union's website Wednesday. "The barbaric murder of the French national Hervé...
Novosti 2014-09-24Herve Gourdel, abducted Sunday, was decapitated after France carried out air- strikes in Iraq. PARIS — Algerian extremists allied with the Islamic State have decapitated a French hostage after France carried out airstrikes in Iraq, according to a video that appeared online Wednesday. French President Francois Hollande condemned the killing of Herve Gourdel, 55, and said France...
Denver Post 2014-09-251:38 PM ET i i 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. AP hide caption itoggle caption AP In this still image from video published on the Internet on Wednesday, by a group...
National Public Radio 2014-09-24
Haines was abducted in March 2013 by ISIL while working in Syria for the aid group, ACTED, assessing refugee camp locations in the north of the country. He was kidnapped near the Atmeh refugee camp near the Turkish border and the Syrian province of Idlib. He was seized along with an Italian aid worker and two Syrians who have since been freed. The Syrian translator who was with Haines, now freed, claimed that insurgents shot out the tires and surrounded their vehicle on a country road.
Haines' family requested that his abduction be kept a secret. The abduction became public when Haines appeared in the Sotloff execution video, being held by Jihadi John who threatened that Haines would be the next victim. The UK Foreign Office originally requested the British media to not publish Haines' identity fearing for his safety, though international press had published his name. Later, the UK Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond confirmed that Haines was one of the intended targets of the 2014 American rescue mission in Syria. The mission failed reportedly because the jihadist group had moved the hostages prior to the arrival of American commandos. Hammond suggested that the UK could launch another rescue attempt to recover the captured Briton.
A video of Haines' beheading, entitled "A Message to the Allies of America", was released by ISIS on September 13, 2014. The video, following a similar format to the ones for Foley and Sotloff, started with a clip of a press statement by UK Prime Minister David Cameron followed by a title screen. Next it showed Haines delivering a prepared speech. Next the executioner makes a statement then puts his knife to Haines throat and makes cutting motions as the video fades to black. The next scene is a shot of the camera panning over Haines' body with his dismembered head on his back. In the final scene, the executioner is holding the orange jumpsuit of another person, named as British aid worker Alan Henning, saying "If you, Cameron, insist on fighting the Islamic State then you, like your master Obama, will have the blood of your people on your hands."
The video is similar to other ISIL execution videos. Opening with a news clip of French President Francois Hollande and a title screen, it then showed Gourdel handcuffed and kneeling in front of four armed masked men. After Gourdel delivered a statement, one of the militants then read a statement, declaring that Gourdel's kidnapping and execution were in response to the order of ISIL spokesman Abu Mohammad al-Adnani to attack citizens of countries participating in the US-led coalition against the Islamic State. Like the other beheading videos, Gourdel's beheading is not shown, but the final scene depicts Gourdel's dead body with his severed head in his lap, and then the fighters holding it up.
Soon after the David Haines video surfaced, British Prime Minister David Cameron released a statement by Twitter: "The murder of David Haines is an act of pure evil. My heart goes out to his family who have shown extraordinary courage and fortitude. We will do everything in our power to hunt down these murderers and ensure they face justice, however long it takes."
The White House released this statement via Twitter: "The United States strongly condemns the barbaric murder of UK citizen David Haines by the terrorist group ISIL [ISIS.] Our hearts go out to the family of Mr. Haines and to the people of the United Kingdom. The United States stands shoulder to shoulder tonight with our close friend and ally in grief and resolve. We will work with the United Kingdom and a broad coalition of nations from the region and around the world to bring the perpetrators of this outrageous act to justice, and to degrade and destroy this threat to the people of our countries, the region and the world."
The British Counter Terrorism Internet Referral Unit (CTIRU) has been working to "take extremist material off the internet" and has removed over 28,000 pieces of "unlawful terrorist-related content" between December 2013 and August 2014.
