An Algerian jihadist group called Jund al-Khilafah released a video on Wednesday of the beheading of a French hostage, after France had refused to back out of U.S.-led airstrikes against the Islamic State.
The video showed Herve Gourdel, 55, kneeling in front of four masked soldiers. He was given a brief moment to tell his family that he loves them before he was beheaded.
French President Francois Hollande confirmed his death, and said that Herve Gourdel was "the victim of an odious crime."
"Our compatriot has been killed cruelly and in a cowardly way by a terrorist group," Hollande added in a statement to the United Nations. "Herve Gourdel was assassinated because he was French. My determination is total, and this aggression only strengthens it. France will continue to fight terrorists everywhere. The operations against Islamic State will continue."
Jund al-Khilafah, an extremist group that had previously been linked with al-Qaeda, announced on September 14 that their allegiance is now with the Islamic State. The group kidnapped Gourdel after the Islamic State called on its members to kill hostages from France and other nations who joined in the U.S.-led military campaign against them.
France has never before experienced this kind of threat and killing of its people, according to a BBC report. Despite the shock this has caused in the country, President Hollande expressed that he will not give in to the Islamic State's demands or threats.
"We won't yield to any blackmail, pressure, or ultimatums," he said to the United Nations. "No terrorist group can in any way influence France's position, will, and freedom."
France had joined the U.S. in airstrikes against the Islamic State on Friday.
Gourdel, who was a mountaineering guide in Nice, had been in Algeria organizing hikes through the Atlas Mountains of Morocco, according to the AFP news agency.
The Islamic State itself has also beheaded three other foreign hostages, including two American journalists and one British aid worker.
