France against IS: bombs unexploded, blood spilled

(Baonghean.vn) - After the brutal executions of two American journalists, James Foley and Steven Sotloff, and British aid worker David Haines, French hostage Hervé Gourdel was executed by a terrorist group affiliated with the Islamic State (IS).

On Wednesday, September 24, a video titled “A message of blood for the French government” was released on the Internet. It is known that the video was made by the terrorist group Jund al-Khilafa – a terrorist group linked to the IS organization. Victim Hervé Gourdel was kidnapped in the Kabulia area of ​​Algeria on Sunday, September 21. In the video dated September 22, Jund al-Khilafa threatened to kill French hostage Hervé Gourdel if France did not stop airstrikes in Iraq targeting the IS organization “within 24 hours”. However, President Francois Hollande refused to comply with the terrorist group’s request.

Victim Hervé Gourdel before being kidnapped in Algeria / Photo: AFP

The nearly five-minute video begins with President Hollande announcing that France will carry out airstrikes in Iraq, followed by bombings of targets. It is followed by a scene of Hervé Gourdel kneeling and surrounded by four masked men with guns. One of the four masked men denounces the intervention of “French invaders” against Muslims in Algeria, Mali and Iraq. The terrorist group decided to kill the hostages to avenge the victims in Algeria and to support the Caliphate, also known as ISIS. The execution scene was cut.

President Francois Hollande immediately strongly condemned the murder of Hervé Gourdel. However, Mr. Hollande still announced that he would continue airstrikes in Iraq. The European Union also condemned the "barbaric murder" and considered it "an affront to traditional values ​​​​and to the legal system widely recognized in the world." At the same time, the Union called on countries "to be more united than ever" in the fight against terrorist groups.

Hervé Gourdel, a 55-year-old Frenchman, was a tour guide with more than 25 years of experience in Mercantour. He was married with two children. Hervé Gourdel arrived in Kabylia on Saturday for a 10-day expedition. However, he was kidnapped by the Jund al-Khilafa terrorist group in Tizi N'kouilal, a junction in the heart of Algeria's Djurdjuran National Park.

Chu Thanh