DHAKA: Al-Qaeda in Yemen has claimed responsibility for the attack on ‘Charlie Hebdo’ in a video posted online, saying it was ‘vengeance’ for the French weekly’s cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad.
‘We, Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, claim responsibility for this operation as vengeance for the messenger of Allah,’ one of the group’s leaders, Nasser al-Ansi, said in the video titled, ‘A message regarding the blessed battle of Paris’, reports The Straits Times.
AQAP was formed in January 2009 as a merger of the Yemeni and Saudi branches of Al-Qaeda. Washington regards it as the worldwide Islamist network’s most dangerous branch and has carried out a sustained drone war against its leaders.
Ansi said the attack was ordered by Ayman Zawahiri, the network’s global commander.
BDST: 1651 HRS, JAN 14, 2015