Source?: usatoday.com

A video released Wednesday by Al-Malahem Media, which is affiliated with al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), shows AQAP commander Nasr al-Ansi claiming the group’s responsibility for last week’s attack on the French newspaper “Charlie Hebdo,”
(Photo: AL-Malahem Media via epa)

A senior leader of al-Qaeda’s affiliate in Yemen claimed responsibility Wednesday for the attacks on the offices of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo that killed 12 people in Paris last week.

The group released a video Wednesday in which Nasr al-Ansi, a top commander of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, or AQAP as the branch is known, said the attack on French newspaper Charlie Hebdo was in direct retaliation for insulting the prophet Mohammed.

The video, released on Twitter, was briefly available on YouTube before being taken down.

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In the 11-minute video al-Ansi criticizes France for belonging to the “party of Satan” and says that further “tragedies and terror” can be expected. Al-Ansi says that Yemen’s al-Qaeda branch “chose the target, laid out the plan and financed the operation.”

Al-Ansi calls Said and Cherif Kouachi, the brothers suspected of carrying out the attacks, heroes.

“Congratulations to you, the Nation of Islam, for this revenge that has soothed our pain,” al-Ansi says. “Congratulations to you for these brave men who blew off the dust of disgrace and lit the torch of glory in the darkness of defeat and agony.”

Last week, the same group released a… read more at usatoday.com