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Al-Qaida



Al-Qaida in Yemen uses video to claim responsibility for Charlie Hebdo attack









AQAP leader appears to avoid taking responsibility for attack by Amedy Coulibaly – who has pledged allegiance to rival group Isis – on policewoman and Jewish supermarket


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The US State Department says it is not clear whether the group orchestrated the attacks



Jason Burke and 
Monica Mark


Wednesday 14 January 2015 14.14 EST







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An al-Qaida affiliate in Yemen has claimed responsibility for the attack on French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo, saying it was ordered by the group’s leadership to avenge insults to the prophet Muhammad, according to a video posted on YouTube on Wednesday.
“As for the blessed battle of Paris, we, the Organisation of al-Qaida al-Jihad in the Arabian Peninsula [AQAP], claim responsibility for this operation as vengeance for the messenger of God,” Nasser bin Ali al-Ansi, a leader of AQAP, which is based in Yemen, says in the recording.
Three gunmen killed 17 people in three days of violence that began when brothers Saïd and Chérif Kouachi opened fire at the offices of Charlie Hebdo in Paris.Investigators are still working to establish whether the Kouachis and third gunman Amedy Coulibaly – all of whom were killed by police – had had recent contact with an established organisation.
The first edition of Charlie Hebdo published after last week’s attacks sold out within minutes across France on Wednesday, with people queuing up to buy copies to support the satirical weekly.The Kouachis told witnesses they belonged to AQAP. Coulibaly claimed allegiance to Islamic State (Isis) in a video published on Sunday, two days after his death.
Ansi, the principal ideologue for AQAP, said the “one who chose the target, laid the plan and financed the operation is the leadership of the organisation”, claiming too that Yemeni-American preacher, Anwar al-Awlaki, had given the “leader” of the operation his orders.
At least one of the gunmen has been reported to have met Awlaki, who died in a suspected US drone strike in 2011.
Ansi also said the Charlie Hebdo attack was carried out after an order from al-Qaida leader, Ayman al-Zawahri, who has repeatedly called for strikes by Muslims in the west using any means they can find.
AQAP was formed in 2009 when two local groups merged. It has become one of the most tenacious organisations active today. Its leaders were among the first to pledge their allegiance to Zawahiri when he became head of al-Qaida in May 2011 after Osama bin Laden was killed by US special forces in Pakistan.
It is the sole affiliate of al-Qaida to have a track record of systematic efforts to strike the west.
But the recording uploaded to YouTube did not provide any evidence to back up AQAP’s claim, and the mention of Awlaki as an organiser may indicate that the last contacts between the group and the attackers in Paris were some time ago.
The video – which carries the logo of al-Qaida’s media group, al-Malahem, and, unusually, has subtitles in English – lacks the sophistication of many recent productions by extremist groups, suggesting it was hurriedly produced. It celebrates the Paris attack as one of a series, including the 9/11 attacks and those in Madrid in 2004 and London in 2005.
In the video AQAP appears to avoid taking responsibility for the actions of Coulibaly, who shot dead a police officer and then four hostages in a kosher supermarket. His long-term girlfriend is believed to be in Syria, in territory controlled by Isis.
This absence will interest security officials probing Coulibaly’s background and loyalties.
Many experts believe al-Qaida and Isis are locked in a bitter competition for leadership of the global jihadi movement. The failure to mention Isis would appear to indicate the two groups had not collaborated on this most recent operation.
The video came as it emerged that the Nigerian “underwear bomber” Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, recruited by an al-Qaida cleric to try to blow up a US airline, reportedly met Saïd Kouachi in Yemen. Kouachi befriended him when the two were studying at an Arabic-language school in 2009, the Wall Street Journal reported. Abdulmutallab is from Nigeria, born to a prominent Nigerian businessman father and a Yemeni mother.
Nigeria’s Boko Haram sought to show it was plugged into a wider jihadi network on Wednesday with a video praising the Charlie Hebdo attack. A man purporting to be its leader, Abubakar Shekau, says in the recording that the attack has inspired the sect to continue to take revenge in Nigeria and beyond on those who are blasphemous.
“We … in the African country called Nigeria, are very happy with what happened in France. Good news from you, our brethren,” he reads from a script, sitting flanked by the group’s black flag on one side and an AK47 on the other. “Good news indeed. We too will keep fighting them [here] … until they worship and acknowledge Allah.”
The eight-minute video, entitled Joy over the Attacks on France, is narrated in Arabic – a departure from the usual mix of Arabic alongside northern Nigeria’s Hausa language.
Shekau also wore a traditional northern Nigerian hat and robes rather than his usual military fatigues.
Boko Haram has frequently sought to play up its international ties. A sect member told the Guardian the group were spiritual followers of al-Qaida, and claimed they had met senior figures in the network founded by Bin Laden during visits to Saudi Arabia [http://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/jan/27/boko-haram-nigeria-sharia-law].
A small number of the extremists received training in weapons handling from al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), the group’s regional branch, which controls a swath of Mali and the Sahara desert, officials said. But claims of being part of the international fold are mostly aspirational. Boko Haram’s targets remain local, though it has recently sought to regionalise the conflict by launching attacks in neighbouring Cameroon. But al-Qaida rarely mentioned Boko Haram directly in their own videos, and appeared to cut whatever links existed after the mass abduction of schoolgirls in Chibok last year.Jason Burke and Monica Mark



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more on this story














Iranian newspaper shut down for showing solidarity with Charlie Hebdo

Mardom-e-Emrooz also has licence suspended over front page depicting George Clooney and words ‘I am Charlie, too’



Published: 19 Jan 2015




Iranian newspaper shut down for showing solidarity with Charlie Hebdo












42% of French people say cartoons that upset Muslims shouldn’t be published

Survey, in wake of Charlie Hebdo attack, also finds 68% feel citizens should be forbidden from returning to France after fighting with Islamist groups abroad



Published: 18 Jan 2015




42% of French people say cartoons that upset Muslims shouldn’t be published












Turkish PM compares Binyamin Netanyahu to Paris attackers

Ahmet Davutoğlu accuses Israeli leader of crimes against humanity and criticises publication of prophet cartoons



Published: 15 Jan 2015




Turkish PM compares Binyamin Netanyahu to Paris attackers












Salman Rushdie on Charlie Hebdo: freedom of speech can only be absolute

Author who faced Iranian death edict over The Satanic Verses expresses anger at vilification of murdered magazine staff



Published: 15 Jan 2015




Salman Rushdie on Charlie Hebdo: freedom of speech can only be absolute














France clamours for Charlie Hebdo as news kiosks sell out




Published: 14 Jan 2015




France clamours for Charlie Hebdo as news kiosks sell out








Charlie Hebdo poster burned in protest as Muslim leaders condemn cover




Published: 14 Jan 2015




Charlie Hebdo poster burned in protest as Muslim leaders condemn cover








Charlie Hebdo: Turkish court orders ban on web pages featuring front cover




Published: 14 Jan 2015




Charlie Hebdo: Turkish court orders ban on web pages featuring front cover








Muslim leaders appeal for calm as Charlie Hebdo special hits the streets




Published: 14 Jan 2015




Muslim leaders appeal for calm as Charlie Hebdo special hits the streets
















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