PARIS: President Francois Hollande vowed yesterday not to give in to jihadists who have threatened to kill a French hostage in Algeria, as troops raced against time to find him.
Algerian military planes were combing the mountainous eastern Tizi Ouzou region backing elite anti-terrorist units on the ground in a desperate bid to find 55-year-old Herve Gourdel, a security source said.
The kidnapping was claimed by Jund Al Khilifa (Soldiers of the Caliphate) — a group linked to Islamic State jihadists — that has vowed to kill the hostage by last night if Paris did not stop air strikes in Iraq.
As the deadline loomed, some 20 truckloads of paratroopers also joined the search, a witness said, and police set up roadblocks along the highway that snakes through the mountains.
“As grave as this situation is, we will not give into any blackmail, any pressure, any ultimatum, no matter how odious, how despicable,” Hollande said in New York, where he is due to attend the annual UN General Assembly.
France opened an official inquiry into the kidnapping, which took place on Sunday in the heart of Algeria’s 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 would later swear allegiance to Al- Qaeda, and security forces have been unable to dislodge them.
Jund Al Khilifa was formed recently after splintering from Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), which experts say has raked in some $120m in ransom payments in the previous eight years.
Paris—which has denied accusations it pays ransoms—refused to be cowed by the threat against Gourdel, and Hollande insisted the country would press on with air strikes alongside the United States.
AFP
