Algerian soldiers and police were dispatched to a mountainous area east of Algiers on Tuesday to search for French national Herve Gourdel, who was kidnapped on Monday near the village of Ait Ouaban by Islamist militants.
The Algerian interior ministry said Gourdel, a outdoor guide and photographer, was travelling with two Algerians in the mountainous area near the village of Ait Ouabane when armed men stopped their vehicle, the BBC reported. The armed men kidnapped Gourdel but let the Algerians go free.
According to the BBC, the armed men reportedly belong to the Algerian group Jund al-Khilifa, also known as Soldiers of the Caliphate, which is reportedly linked to the Islamic State.
The group claims it was responding to a call from the Islamic State to attack citizens of countries taking part in air strikes against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria and has threatened to kill Gourdel if France does not end its military operations there.
Gourdel's kidnapping is one of the first abductions of a foreigner in Algeria since the end of the Algerian war in 1962.
