Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula issued a video statement today officially claiming responsibility for last week’s terrorist attack at the Charlie Hebdo headquarters in Paris — stressing that the operation was ordered by, in the words of the administration, “core al-Qaeda” leader Ayman al-Zawahiri.
The head of AQAP, Nasir al-Wuhayshi, is also Zawahiri’s No. 2, the general manager of “core al-Qaeda.”
“We in the Organization of Qa’idatul Jihad in the Arabian Peninsula claim responsibility for this operation as a vengeance for the Messenger of Allah,” AQAP commander Nasr Ibn Ali al-Ansi said, according to an English-language transcript of the video also released by the terrorist group. “We clarify to the ummah that the one who chose the target, laid the plan and financed the operation, is the leadership of the organization. We did it in compliance with the Command of Allah and supporting His Messenger – peace be upon him, then the order of our general amir, the generous Sheikh Aiman bin Muhammad Adhawahiri – may Allah preserve him, and following the will of Sheikh Usama bin Laden – may Allah have mercy on him. The arrangement with the amir of the operation were made by Sheikh Anwar Al-‘Awlaki – may Allah have mercy on him, who threatens the West both in his life and after his martyrdom.”
The cover art of the transcript is a blurred-out Eiffel Tower.
“This blessed battle was carried out by two heroes of Islam, the Kouachi brothers Sharrif and Sa’id – may Allah have mercy on them. It was a tawfeeq [blessing] from Allah that the operation coincided with the operation of the Mujahid brother Ahmed Koulibali – may Allah have mercy on him. We ask Allah to accept them all among martyrs, and bless them the company of the Prophets,” al-Ansi said in reference to the terrorist who laid siege to the kosher grocery store.
Police have said that Coulibaly’s spouse, Hayet Boumedienne, phoned the wife of one of the Kouachi brothers more than 500 times leading up to the attacks. She left France on Jan. 2 and is believed to have crossed into the Islamic State via Turkey.
“The result of the operation was the killing of a number of the newspaper’s cartoonists, workers and guards. By the Grace of Allah, one of them was in the ‘Wanted List’ produced by Inspire Magazine with image and name,” al-Ansi continued, referencing late editor Stéphane Charbonnier. “All praise is due to Allah for His Tawfeeq and Gratitude.”
The statement was released on the same day as the new issue of Charlie Hebdo, featuring once again Muhammed on the cover.
“Those dissolute kuffar insulted the chosen Prophets of Allah. They persisted in their disbelief until they insulted the Friend of Allah and the peak of His creation, Muhammad bin ‘Abdillah may the Peace and Blessings of my Lord be upon him. Thereupon, the Muslim ummah awoke and roared out of rage because of the honor of the Prophet of Allah,” the AQAP statement said. “They resorted to supplication and prayers to Allah the Almighty that He take revenge on them. And if Allah wanted, He could have taken vengeance upon them, but that is the Wish and Patience of Allah so that He tests some of you by means of others, and so that He knows who will support Him and His Messengers in the unseen.”
“When the heroes were assigned, they acceded to; they promised and fulfilled. Through them, Allah healed the chests of the believers, removed the anger from their hearts.”
It also referenced Sunday’s march that drew more than a million people and nearly 50 world leaders to the streets of Paris.
“The heads of kufr have realized this after they had been shocked by the events. Look at how they gathered, rallied and supported each other; strengthening their weakness and dressing their wounds. Those wounds have not healed and they won’t, be it in Paris, New York or Washington, or in London or Spain, or in Palestine the legend of glory and pride. Look carefully at their gathering. They are the same who fought us in Afghanistan and Caucasus, in Gaza, the Levant, Iraq, Somalia and Yemen,” the statement said, calling France “the party of Satan” for, in part, driving Islamists out of terrorized towns in northern Mali.
Al-Ansi hailed the attack as “a new turning point in the history of confrontation.”
“Let us not let the disbelievers be more united in their disbelief and insulting the prophets than us in supporting our religion and Prophet. Those are our brothers. They were generous with their lives in supporting our Prophet peace be upon him. So what are we going to do, o Muslim ummah? Let us support our Prophet, religion and ummah. Each one as per his capability and specialty. This is the Sunnah of Allah that does not change; a confrontation between truth and false until the Day of Judgment. Rise up o Muslim youth in support of your prophet. Be generous with your lives like your predecessors did. Take vengeance for the Muslim blood that is spilled, the honors that are defiled, the Quran that is torn.”
Earlier this week, White House press secretary Josh Earnest was standing by the administration’s assessment that “core al-Qaeda” had been decimated.
“There is, as tragic as the events were in France last week, a difference between the ability of core al-Qaeda to spend years on a conspiracy involving dozens of individuals in the United States to carry out horrific attacks, like they did on September 11th, 2001, and the terribly violent actions of one or two or three individuals,” Earnest told reporters Monday.
“It’s a different kind of threat and it is one that poses its own unique set of challenges. And it is why we can talk about the success that we have had in truly decimating core al-Qaeda that used to exist and operate with impunity in the region between Afghanistan and Pakistan, and the kind of threat that we face now from individuals who in many cases are being radicalized through social media and carrying out either lone wolf attacks or are individuals who have traveled to the region and gotten some expertise and returned to the fight.”
Earnest also stressed that the first editor of AQAP’s Inspire magazine “has been wiped off the battlefield.” The production value on the online English-language magazine, though, is better than ever, with the December issue featuring a detailed how-to pictorial on building a bomb to get past airport security.
“And, again, that is a testament to the kind of pressure that these terrorist leaders are under — that they are being watched, that they’re being monitored, and they are at risk whenever they are out operating publicly, even when they’re operating publicly in a place like Yemen; it seems really far away,” Earnest said. “But we recognize the threat that these individuals face, and because of the counterterrorism strategy that this president has put in place, those extremist leaders are under intense pressure and many of them have been wiped off the battlefield.”
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