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ALGIERS, Algeria (AP) — An Al-Qaida splinter group has kidnapped a French citizen in Algeria -- and it says it will execute him unless France stops taking part in airstrikes against the Islamic State group in Iraq.
The threat comes in a video appearing on social media. The Frenchman appears in the video, flanked by two armed masked men. He says he was taken hostage by the group yesterday. And he reiterates the group's demands that French airstrikes end.
France's Foreign Ministry confirms that kidnapping of a French citizen in Algeria, but it didn't identify him or his kidnappers.
French forces joined the U.S. last week in carrying out airstrikes against forces from the Islamic State group that have taken over large areas of Syria and Iraq.
Yesterday, the spokesman for the Islamic State group urged followers to kill Europeans and Americans, and "especially" the French. The group has beheaded two American journalists and a British aid worker.
Responding to the statement at the time, France's interior minister said he was confident of the country's security.
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