Algerian Militants behead French Hostage in support of ISIS

After promising to kill him if France didn't stop bombing ISIS in Iraq, Herve Gourdel, 55,who was captured by Islamist group Jund al-Khilifa on Sunday has been beheaded- just one day after he arrived in the country on holiday.

In a video posted on YouTube that showed the white-haired, bespectacled Gourdel surrounded by masked men holding Kalashnikov rifles, the group had threatened to kill their hostage by the end of the night if Paris did not stop air strikes in Iraq, where ISIS controls large areas.

'Soldiers are combing through the area,' an Algerian security source said this afternoon, before Mr Gourdel's death was eventually confirmed.

Gourdel, who lived in the southern French city of Nice, only arrived in Algeria on Saturday and was seized the following day while hiking in the heart of the Djurdjura National Park - whose dense forests, deep gorges and picturesque lakes were once a major draw for tourists.

However, the mountains became a sanctuary for Islamists in the 1990s who later swore allegiance to Al Qaeda, and security forces have been unable to dislodge them.

A passionate photographer and mountaineer, Mr Gourdel liked going off the beaten track, though he was always careful, his friends said.

'I often bump into him in the mountains and he always goes to little-known areas of the massif, never on the major routes where there are people,'...said Michel Ingigliardi, his friend of 30 years  Going to far-away isolated countries is consistent with his personality..