Algerian Justice Minister Tayeb Louh said on Wednesday that the army last month killed a jihadist suspected of taking part in the beheading of Frenchman Herve Gourdel.

"One of the suspects was eliminated in October by the army during an anti-terrorist operation," Louh told reporters, citing a probe into the murder of Gourdel.

The hiker was kidnapped in September and later beheaded by Jund al-Khilifa, or "Soldiers of the Caliphate," a militant organisation which has pledged allegiance to the jihadist Islamic State group.