CAIRO (AP) — A member of al-Qaida’s branch in Yemen says the group directed the attack against the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in Paris “as revenge for the honor” of Islam’s Prophet Muhammad.
The member on Friday provided to The Associated Press a statement in English saying “the leadership of AQAP directed the operations and they have chosen their target carefully.”
He says the attack was in line with warnings from the late al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden to the West about “the consequences of the persistence in the blasphemy against Muslim sanctities”
He said the group has delayed its declaration of responsibility for “security reasons.”
He spoke on condition of anonymity because of the group’s regulations.
Copyright 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
If that pans out, then I clearly was wrong – I thought this was a “lone wolf” style of attack. But if it was coordinated from Yemen, how is it that all of that US listening didn’t pick it up? They tell us they have to trample on privacy rights all over the world to keep us safe. But clearly that doesn’t always work. And it’s not like these guys would have been totally off the radar.