Even among terrorism watchers , the Algerian group Jund al Khilafa has not been a daily preoccupation . But on Sunday this obscure cell found a 55-year old French hiker , Herve Gourdel , wandering in the rugged and beautiful Djudjura National Park in central Algeria . The innocent mountaineering enthusiast provided the group with an opportunity to catapult itself onto the world stage and burnish its credentials as one of the ( relatively few ) jihadist groups to declare allegiance to Abu Bakr al Baghdadi and the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria ( ISIS ) . Its leader , Gouri Abdelmalek , had declared Jund al Khilafa 's loyalty to ISIS earlier this month ; the name means `` Soldiers of the Caliphate . '' ( There are other groups with the same name in Kazakhstan and Egypt . ) In carrying out its threat to behead Gourdel , 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 . A video message showing the execution was designed to resemble those 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 ) . '' So does that mean that ISIS ' message spreading like wildfire across the Maghreb ? And what does Gourdel 's tragic murder tell us about a more general threat to Westerners ? Jund al Khilafa is no ISIS . It is a small splinter group of al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb ( AQIM ) , an al Qaeda affiliate prone to disunity . Abdelmalek , sentenced to death by Algeria in 2012 , was the commander of AQIM 's central region . By then , he 'd been an active in the militant Islamist insurgency in Algeria for 12 years . He said 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 . '' Jund al Khilafa holds no territory and can not threaten Algeria 's main cities -- though occasional suicide attacks can not be ruled out -- let alone launch attacks beyond Algeria . French intelligence analysts say there are plenty of such groups roaming the densely-forested mountains , beyond the authority of the state , some mixing jihad with banditry and smuggling . Their main threat is to Algerian troops : Jund al Khilafa killed 10 soldiers in an ambush in April close to where Gourdel was seized . It is not the first -- and likely will not be the last -- jihadist outfit to quit al Qaeda for the millennarian message of al Baghdadi . This week , a group of the same name in Egypt declared its allegiance to the ISIS leader as the Caliph and threatened attacks on US diplomatic missions . A group of jihadists in Yemen made the same pledge last week ; so did a group in Pakistan . So far none of the big fish among al Qaeda 's affiliates have gone over to ISIS . But in a joint statement , AQIM and Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula have expressed solidarity with the people of Syria and Iraq in the face of U.S. military action -- while studiously avoiding any expression of support for ISIS . That 's not to say that smaller groups like Jund al Khilafa are irrelevant . ISIS can use their declarations as propaganda , 'evidence ' that its path is the true one and the tide is flowing in its favor . Some analysts see a `` bidding war '' developing among these groups and cells , as they seek attention and support . Geoff Porter , who runs the North Africa Risk Consulting , says the murder of Gourdel poses a challenge to AQIM . `` Will it ratchet up its activities to reclaim primacy among the Maghreb 's jihadi groups ? Will it condemn the kidnapping as futile and reckless ? Will it try to pull Jund al-Khilafa back into its fold ? '' he asks . And even if Jund al Khilafa 's reach is limited , other militants might be tempted to follow its example -- hence the announcement by the French government of preventive security measures Thursday in the wake of Gourdel 's killing . There is one other takeaway from the murder of Gourdel . It is another sign that an ever-growing 'arc ' of territory is now too perilous for even the most adventurous of travelers : from the Atlantic coast of Africa through the Maghreb , much of the Middle East , Somalia , Yemen and on to Pakistan . The famous Paris-to-Dakar motorized rally was abandoned in 2008 because of security threats and moved to South America ; backpackers have long since crossed the scenic Swat Valley in Pakistan off their list . More recently the fabled city of Timbuktu in Mali saw multiple abductions of Westerners by terrorist groups , excursions to St. Catherine 's monastery in Egypt 's Sinai Desert were halted earlier this year after a bomb attack , and the beautiful coastline of northern Kenya has become a virtual no-go zone thanks to raids by al Shabaab . Even well-protected commercial ventures , like the uranium mine in Niger owned by French company Aveva and the In Amenas refinery in southern Algeria , have been subject to terror attacks . Many travelers will now add to that list the breathtaking scenery of the Tizi Ouzou mountains in Algeria .
Before Sunday , the Algerian group Jund al Khilafa was little known . The videotaped beheading of a French hiker changed that . The group cited an appeal by ISIS spokesman Muhammad al-Adnani . That appeal was for ISIS followers to kill `` the spiteful and filthy French ''