Algeria recovers body of French mountaineer slain by jihadists

The body of French mountaineer Herve Gourdel was recovered Thursday, almost four months after he was abducted and beheaded by jihadists, the Algerian Defence Ministry said.

The remains were found in the Tizi Ouzou region of north-eastern Algeria and a DNA test confirmed they were Gourdel's, the ministry said.

A militant who had recently been arrested in the region provided information leading to the discovery, it said. Gourdel, 55, a mountain guide, was abducted in September as he was about to embark on a 10-day hike.

His captors, who called themselves Jund al-Khalifa (The Caliph's Soldiers), threatened to kill him unless France ended its airstrikes against the Islamic State militant group.

Three days later, they published a video showing him being beheaded with a knife.

Gourdel, who is survived by a wife and two children, was the first French hostage to be executed by the Islamic State or a group acting in its name. In December, the military said it had killed Jund al-Khalifa leader Gouri Abdel-Malak and two associates in an ambush in the city of Issers, about 60 kilometres east of Algiers.