They’re proud. They murder the innocent in the name of their god – a man they say was a man of peace – and they gladly proclaim the deaths as a success story. How sick is that?
A top leader of Yemen’s Al-Qaida branch claimed responsibility Wednesday for the deadly terror attack on satirical French newspaper Charlie Hebdo that left 12 people dead.
Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) commander Nasr Ali al-Ansi said in a video message that the attack was “vengeance” for Charlie Hebdo’s cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad, according to the Agence France-Presse.
The AFP reported that Ansi said the group conceived of and financed the attack at the orders of al-Qaida’s global leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri. He referred to the suspects in the attack, Cherif and Said Kouachi, as “heroes.”
Ansi also channeled deceased al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden in issuing the warning “If the freedom of your speech is not restrained, then you should accept the freedom of our actions,” according to the AFP.