1st LD: Yemen's al-Qaida claims responsibility for Paris attacks
Xinhua, January 14, 2015 Adjust font size:
The Yemen-based al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula claimed responsibility for attacks on Charlie Hebdo and a Jewish supermarket in Paris, in an online video released Wednesday.
"We, the al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), claim responsibility for this operation as a vengeance for the Messenger of Allah," AQAP military leader Nasr al-Anisi said in the 11-minute online video.
"We clarify to the Islamic nations that the one who chose the target, laid the plan and financed the operation, is the leadership of our organization AQAP," he said.
On Jan. 7, brothers Cherif and Said Kouachi stormed into the Paris-based Charlie Hebdo satirical magazine, and shot dead 12 people, including 10 journalists and two policemen.
They charged that they have avenged the honor of the prophet Muhammad, which featured in caricatures the magazine published.
One day later, an apparent associate of the Kouachi brothers, Amedi Calibouli, killed a French policewoman and on Friday took over a kosher market and held hostages, demanding that the brothers would be released as they were in a standoff with French authorities northeast of Paris.
The three militants and four hostages in the supermarket died, while several others were seriously injured. Endit