(VOVworld) – The Jund al-Khilafah, an Algerian group, has kidnapped and threatened to kill a Frenchman unless Paris halts air attacks in Iraq against its ally, the Islamic State (IS).

French hostage is between Jund al-Khilifa militants (Photo: Telegraph)

The Jund al-Khilafah group said in a video on Monday that it abducted Herve Gourdel on Sunday in the mountainous Tizi Ouzu region of northern Algeria, where al-Qaeda is active. Gourdel is shown squatting on the ground flanked by two hooded men with assault rifles, as he asks French president Francois Hollande to intervene. The kidnappers said they did this in response to the IS call for Muslims around the world to assassinate citizens of the countries that take part in a US-led war to fight the IS.

Jihadists attacked an Iraqi army base west of Baghdad, killing 40 soldiers and capturing at least 70.