A 55-year-old French tourist kidnapped while hiking on Sunday in Algeria was shown beheaded on video posted Wednesday by an Algerian jihadist group who said this was in response to French air attacks on ISIS in Iraq.

French mountain guide Herve Gourdel, from Nice, was taken hostage by a group referring to itself as Soldiers of the Caliphate, or Jund al-Khilafeh, in the remote northeast Kabylie mountains of Algeria. Militants announced Sunday when they took Gourdel hostage they would behead him within 24 hours if France didn't stand down against ISIS.

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French President Francois Hollande Wednesday confirmed the action calling the murder "cruel and cowardly." French officials said they wouldn't stop their air assault. They were the first member of the anti-ISIS coalition, aside from the U.S., to carry out air strikes against ISIS positions in Iraq, but haven't struck in Syria.

SITE Intelligence Group that keeps track of jihadist groups said the video posted Wednesday was a message to the French government. With arms tied behind his back, Gourdei was seen kneeling in the video surrounded by armed militants, according to SITE.

Gourdel issued a brief statement saying he loved his family. A militant then read a statement saying French criminal crusaders should be punished for their actions in Iraq, Mali and Algeria. The militant pledged allegiance to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, ISIS leader. Then, Gourdel was pushed to the ground.

The video went black as an armed militant approached Gourdel with a knife in hand. After fading to black, the video resumed showing what seemed to be Gourdel's head lying next to his body. It was closely similar to  videos released earlier showing the beheadings of a British aid worker and two U.S. journalists.

Tagsbeheading, Herve Gourdei, Algeria, ISIS, ISIL, Francoise Hollande