The man behind the kidnapping and beheading of a French hiker in Algeria has been killed in a military operation, officials said.

A Ministry of Defence statement said Abdelmalek Gouri was killed with two associates near the city of Boumerdes, east of the capital Algiers.

Two other militants were later killed nearby, added the statement.

A group calling itself Jund al-Khilafah and pledging allegiance to the Islamic State group in Syria kidnapped French hiker Herve Gourdel in the Djurdjura mountains in September.

Mr Gourdel was beheaded on video a few days later when demands for France to end air strikes were not met.

The Algerian army carried out a massive operation to find the group behind the kidnapping and said two other members had been killed in past months.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.