MOSCOW, September 22 (RIA Novosti) - The Frenchman, kidnapped in Algeria, has said through a video that he was abducted by an Algeria-based Islamic State splinter group "the Caliphate Soldiers", Reuters reported Monday.
"I am in the hands of Jund al-Khilifa, an Algerian armed group. This armed group is asking me to ask you (President Francois Hollande) to not intervene in Iraq. They are holding me as a hostage and I ask you Mr President to do everything to get me out of this bad situation and I thank you," the abducted was quoted by Reuters as saying.
The French national was abducted amid pledges by the Islamic State (IS) militants to attack citizens of the United States, France as well any other countries that would join the US-led airstrike coalition against the jihadist group.
France launched its first airstrike against the Islamic State Saturday, thus joining the United States in quashing the militant group. Airstrikes against the Islamic State were first launched by the United States on September 15.
The IS, also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS) or the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), has been fighting the Syrian government since 2012. In June 2014, the group extended its attacks to northern and western Iraq, declaring a caliphate on the territories over which it had control.
