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Algerian army 'kills jihadist behind Herve Gourdel's beheading' Algerian army 'kills jihadist behind Herve Gourdel beheading'
(about 2 hours later)
Algerian special forces have killed the leader of the militant group that beheaded French tourist Herve Gourdel, according to a local TV news network. Algeria's defence ministry says troops have killed the leader of a jihadist militant group which kidnapped and beheaded French tourist Herve Gourdel.
Abdelmalek Gouri, the head of Jund al-Khilafa, was killed in clashes in the Sidi Daoud area, about 80 km (50 miles) from Algiers, Ennahar TV reported. Abdelmalek Gouri and two associates were shot dead late on Monday in the town of Isser, a statement said.
Jund al-Khilafa is aligned with the Islamic State group (IS), which controls large parts of Iraq and Syria. His group, Jund al-Khilafa (Soldiers of the Caliphate), pledged allegiance to Islamic State (IS) in mid-September.
It killed Mr Gourdel, 55, following French air strikes in Iraq. Days later, it seized Mr Gourdel in the Djurdjura mountains and killed him in response to French air strikes on IS.
Mr Gouri was killed along with two other members of Jund al-Khilafa (Soldiers of the Caliphate), Ennahar TV quoted unnamed security forces as saying. The Algerian army subsequently launched a major operation to track down members of Jund al-Khilafa, which has seen several of them killed.
There has been no independent confirmation of the report. 'Explosive belts'
On Saturday, the army said three militants had been killed near Sidi Daoud, including a "dangerous criminal" wanted since 1995, AFP news agency reports, when the hunt for Mr Gouri was launched. The defence ministry statement said the operation in Isser began at 22:30 (21:30 GMT) on Monday after intelligence was received and a vehicle carrying militants was seen entering the town, 60km (37 miles) east of Algiers.
Last month, Algeria's Justice Minister Tayeb Louh said one of the militants responsible for beheading Mr Gourdel in September had been killed, but did not give details. After Gouri and the two other members of Jund al-Khilafa were killed, troops recovered two automatic rifles, explosive belts, a large quantity of ammunition and mobile phones, it added.
Mr Gourdel, who was from Nice, was kidnapped after the militants stopped his vehicle in a remote area east of Algiers where he had intended to go hiking. No other people were reported injured in the clashes.
French President Francois Hollande condemned the killing as a "cruel and cowardly" act, and said that French air strikes, which began on IS targets in Iraq earlier in September, would continue. On Saturday, the army announced that it had killed three other militants in a mountainous area near the village Sidi Daoud, 25km (15) miles to the north-west of Isser. It said one of them was a "dangerous criminal".
Jund al-Khilafa pledged allegiance to IS on 14 September. And on 11 December, the justice ministry said soldiers had killed two members of Jund al-Khilafa implicated in the murder of Mr Gourdel.
Until then it had been known as part of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), which grew out of an Algerian militant group and is now active across North and parts of West Africa. The newspaper Ennahar cited security sources as saying the group mostly comprised former members of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM).
On 14 September, Jund al-Khilafa broke away from AQIM, accusing it of "deviating from the true path", and pledging allegiance to IS leader and self-proclaimed "caliph" Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
The group kidnapped Mr Gourdel in Djurdjura National Park on 21 September. Three days later it published a video that appeared to show him being beheaded after its demand that France end its air strikes on IS positions in Iraq was not met.
Gouri, also known as Khaled Abou Slimane, was once considered the "right-hand man" of AQIM leader Abdelmalek Droukdel and was part of the cell behind suicide attacks on the government's headquarters and the UN compound in Algiers in 2007, Ennahar said.
He was also behind an attack in Iboudrarene in April that left 11 soldiers dead, the newspaper added.
Who are Jund al-Khilafa?Who are Jund al-Khilafa?