I think the phrasing in that article was done poorly.

An AQ North Africa offshoot kidnapped a French hostage. On the day before his ransom was due, the French attempted to raid, and failed. As a result, he was executed. Now, the terrorists won and the French were embarrassed.

France's special forces have accomplished several hostage rescues within the past 3 years, so I'm not surprised that they made another attempt here.(these are observations from other incidents where French hostages are taken).

France has been at war against AQ. They just haven't paid much attention to this AQ offshoot group (mainly a Western African group). This message shows that they are very upset, and will likely start "hunting."