PARIS, September 24. /ITAR-TASS/. Islamic fundamentalists have executed the French hostage captured in Algeria, AFP reported on Wednesday, referring to the video showing the killing.

The French authorities have so far made no comments, saying the video had to be studied to confirm its authenticity.

The hostage is a 55-year-old tourist from Nice, Herve Gourdel, who arrived in Algeria on Saturday and on the following day joined his local friends for a mountain trip in Cabilia, a province in the east of the country, was kidnapped by militants from Jund al-Khilafah, which claims close affiliation with the Islamic State (IS) in Iraq.

The militants demanded that Paris stop airstrikes against IS positions in Iraq, but the French government flatly refused to make concessions.