The leader of an Algerian terror group that beheaded French hiker Herve Gourdel in late September was killed in a military operation on Monday, the state-run Algeria Press Service reported.
Gouri Abdelmalek, leader of the Islamist militant Jund al Khilafa, was killed in the Algerian city of Isser, APS reported, citing Algeria’s defense ministry.
Abdelmalek was one of three “terrorists” killed in the operation, APS reported. The report didn’t say how the three were killed.
Gourdel, 55, was hiking in central Algeria’s Djudjura National Park when he was abducted in September. Jund al Khilafa released a video later that month showing Gourdel’s beheading.