Al Qaeda Yemen claims responsibility for Charlie Hebdo terror attack

Protest on Sunday that saw millions of France including world leaders

Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula claimed responsibility on Wednesday for last week's terror attack that killed 12 people at France's Charlie Hebdo satirical newspaper. The claim surfaced as Charlie Hebdo's new issue featuring the Prophet Mohammed on the cover sold all 3 million copies today, in a sign of defiance against the terrorists..

Al Qaeda video showing AQAP commander Nasr Ibn Ali al-Ansi, with pictures of the two dead Paris gunmen  brothers Said and Cherif Kouachi -- in the background.

"When the heroes were assigned, they accepted. They promised and fulfilled," al-Ansi said.

"It is France that has shared all of America's crimes," al-Ansi added. "It is France that has committed crimes in Mali and the Islamic Maghreb. It is France that supports the annihilation of Muslims in Central Africa in the name of race cleansing." ("Islamic Maghreb" refers to North Africa.)

"It was a blessing from Allah" that the kosher market siege, in which four hostages were killed, took place about the same time, al-Ansi said.

The attack was years in the making, AQAP claimed.

"The intelligence community is working as quickly as possible" to determine the video's authenticity, U.S. National Security Council spokesman Alistair Baskey said Wednesday.

"If genuine, this is only the latest example of the wanton brutality that is al Qaeda's calling card and which it has visited upon innocents of all faiths." Baskey said.

Credit: CNN