( CNN ) The Algerian military has killed the leader of an Algerian terror group that beheaded French hiker Herve Gourdel earlier this year , the state-run Algeria Press Service reported Tuesday . Gouri Abdelmalek , leader of Jund al Khilafa , and two other militants were killed in the Algerian city of Isser after the military set an unspecified `` trap , '' for them , APS reported Tuesday , citing Algeria 's defense ministry . The report of Abdelmalek 's death comes roughly three months after Jund al Khilafa -- a small Islamist group formerly linked to al Qaeda -- published a video showing the beheading of Gourdel in what the group said was a display of support to al Qaeda 's rival ISIS . Gourdel , 55 , was hiking in central Algeria 's Djudjura National Park when he was abducted in September . Jund al Khilafa , having just declared allegiance to the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria ( ISIS ) , then published a video of Gourdel 's beheading on September 24 . The video was titled , `` A message of blood for the French government . '' The group said it was responding to an appeal by ISIS spokesman Muhammad al-Adnani to kill `` the spiteful and filthy French '' because of their support for military action against the group in Iraq . A video message showing the execution was designed to resemble beheadings carried out by ISIS , as were the words of one of the militants , who said : `` Let the French people know that their blood is cheap for their President , and it is the same as you made the blood of the Muslim women and children cheap in Iraq and Sham ( Syria ) . '' The Algerian government called the beheading an act of `` criminals , '' and French President Francois Hollande said at the time that Algeria 's Prime Minister assured him he would do the utmost to find the killers . On Monday , the Algerian army launched its attack in Isser after tracking what it believed was `` a dangerous terrorist group driving a vehicle '' in the city , the Algerian defense ministry said , according to APS . Abdelmalek was later confirmed as one of the three that the army killed , APS reported Tuesday . Jund al Khilafa , which means `` Soldiers of the Caliphate , '' had been a part of al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb . Abdelmalek , who was the commander of AQIM 's central region , said in September that his fighters were abandoning AQIM because of `` the certain deviation of the methods of the mother organization al-Qaeda , and that of the Islamic Maghreb . '' Abdelmalek had been active in a militant Islamist insurgency in Algeria for 14 years . Gourdel was just one of the Westerners to be beheaded by an Islamist extremist group this year . Since mid-August , ISIS has beheaded American journalists Steven Sotloff and James Foley , British aid worker David Haines , British aid convoy volunteer Alan Henning , and American aid worker Peter Kassig . CNN 's Tim Lister and Steve Almasy contributed to this report .
Gouri Abdelmalek led Jund al Islam , which killed French hiker Olivier Gourdel in September . Dar al Khilafa , an Algerian group that splintered from al Qaeda , linked to ISIS . Algerian military says it killed him and two other militants in town of Isser on Monday .