Hollande: France will not give in to hostage blackmail

President Francois Hollande vowed Tuesday not to give in to jihadists who have threatened to kill a French hostage in Algeria, as troops raced against time to find him. The kidnapping was claimed by Jund al-Khilifa (Soldiers of the Caliphate) - a group linked to Islamic State jihadists - that has vowed to kill the hostage by Tuesday night if Paris did not stop air strikes in Iraq. Speaking to French reporters on the sidelines of the UN climate summit in New York, Hollande said he had spoken to the Algerian prime minister on Monday night in order to cooperate and share all useful information.

As grave as this situation is, we will not give in to any blackmail, any pressure, any ultimatum, no matter how odious, how despicable,

President Francois Hollande

Jund al-Khilifa was formed recently after splintering from Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), which experts say has raked in some $120 million in ransom payments in the previous eight years.

Europe