French Hostage Killed; Airstrikes Continue

PARIS (AP) — A terrorism watchdog says Algerian extremists allied with the Islamic State group have killed a French hostage.

A group calling itself Jund al-Khilafah said after abducting Herve Gourdel on Sunday that he would be killed within 24 hours unless France ended its airstrikes against Islamic State fighters in Iraq. The French government has insisted it will not back down.

U.S. terrorism watchdog SITE Intelligence Group says Jund al-Khilafah released a video online Wednesday saying Gourdel has been killed. He was a 55-year-old mountaineering guide from Nice. The French government would not immediately comment.

Additional US airstrikes carried out in Syria

BEIRUT (AP) — U.S. warplanes have again bombed Islamic State militant positions today on both sides of the Syria-Iraq border.

The airstrikes came a day after the U.S. and five Arab allies opened their military operation against the militant group in Syria with more than 200 strikes on some two dozen targets.

President Barack Obama has said the campaign could last years. It expands on the aerial assault the U.S. has already been waging for more than a month against the extremists in Iraq.

According to U.S. Central command, the latest U.S. strikes -- by bombers and fighter jets -- damaged eight Islamic State vehicles in Syria near the Iraqi border. The statement also says two Islamic State armed vehicles west of Baghdad were hit, along with two militant fighting positions in northern Iraq.

A Pentagon spokesman says the strikes in eastern Syria hit a staging area used by the militants to move equipment across the border into Iraq.