Algerian jihadist group Jund al-Khalaifah (soldiers of the Caliphate) has beheaded 55-year-old French hostage Herve Gourdel in a new video released today.
Jund al-Khalaifah kidnapped Gourdel, a mountaineering guide, over the weekend, and had demanded the French government withdraw from the US-led war against ISIS in Syria and Iraq within 24 hours. The French refused, and Gourdel was executed, in what the group called a “message of blood for the French government.”
Jund al-Khalaifah isn’t widely known outside of Algeria, though back in 2012 they claimed credit for the Mohamed Merah shootings in Toulouse. French officials denied the links, saying he acted alone.
This way just be the first in a series of killings by other Islamist factions over the ISIS war, with Abu Sayyaf, in the Philippines, threatening to kill two German hostages if the German government doesn’t end its support to the US war.
These "beheadings" are going to eventually lose their shock value. Better round up those incubator babies again. Could mention a musroom cloud, or dirty bomb, too. A mall, or subway, but convenience store doesn't have a big enough fear factor.
What with John Cantlie telling the truth about the US "plans" in Iraq and Syria, his videos are being "played down" in the media, while the "off with their heads" headlines get the mobs in an uproar, screaming for more bombing. more blood. But it's getting old.