ANP troops expand their hunt for the terrorists behind Gourdel’s brutal execution

Special ANP forces have pursed their extended search through the mountainous regions of Tizi Ouzou and Bouira in eastern Algeria where a newly-formed extremist group claiming allegiance to the Syria-based Islamic State terrorist group beheaded a French hiker three weeks ago.

A communal guard from a village just a dozen kilometers where Herve Gourdel was kidnapped and a veteran of many such operations in the mountainous Kabylia region, said the rough terrain is somewhat hampering the thorough search by the ANP troops.

“ANP soldiers, some with dogs, have been steadily searching the valley and moving toward the ridges in hopes of fighting Gourdel’s body,” he said. “It will be difficult to find the body, the terrorists will have buried it and they are difficult to find because these people know the terrain well — this mountain is their territory and they know of caves that other people can’t reach.”

Meanwhile, Algerian security services have identified suspects in the kidnapping and beheading of Herve Gourdel, the justice minister said last week, as the country widened its probe into the brutal execution.

Gourdel was seized on September 21 by Jund al-Khilifa, or “Soldiers of the Caliphate,” a terrorist group linked to the Islamic State jihadists, while trekking in a national park in eastern Algeria.

The 55-year-old mountain guide was beheaded, in a video posted online , after France rejected the kidnappers’ ultimatum to halt anti-IS air raids in Iraq.

“The preliminary investigation has identified certain members of the terrorist group that carried out this odious crime,” Tayeb Louh said in Algiers.

The investigation into Gourdel’s abduction and killing was handed over to a judge at an Algiers court specializing in counter-terrorism and organized crime, the justice minister underlined.

Prosecutors have sought an arrest warrant for the identified kidnappers and demanded an investigation to determine the location where the video was posted online, said the minister.

A probe has also been ordered to identify other members of the so-called “Jund al-Khalifa” terrorist group responsible for the horrendous assassination of the French hiker.

The beheading followed France’s rejection of the group’s 24-hour ultimatum to halt air raids in Iraq — part of a US-led campaign against ISIS.

French President Francois Hollande, then said, “This crime will not remain unpunished.”

Algeria also vowed to track down relentlessly those behind the heinous murder and pledged to fully protect foreign citizens on its soil.