Algerian army ‘kills jihadist behind HerveGourdel beheading’

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 and two associates
were shot dead late on Monday in the
town of Isser, a statement said.
His group, Jund al-Khilafa (Soldiers of the
Caliphate), pledged allegiance to Islamic
State (IS) in mid-September.
Days later, it seized Mr Gourdel in the
Djurdjura mountains and killed him in
response to French air strikes on IS.
The Algerian army subsequently launched
a major operation to track down members
of Jund al-Khilafa, which has seen
several of them killed.
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.
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.
No other people were reported injured in
the clashes.
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”.
And on 11 December, the justice ministry
said soldiers had killed two members of
Jund al-Khilafa implicated in the murder
of Mr Gourdel.
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.