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"As for the blessed Battle of Paris, we, the Organisation of
al Qaeda al Jihad in the Arabian Peninsula, claim responsibility
for this operation as vengeance for the Messenger of God," said
Nasser bin Ali al-Ansi, a leader of the Yemeni branch of al
Qaeda (AQAP) in the recording.
Gunmen killed a total of 17 people in three days of violence
that began when they opened fire at Charlie Hebdo in revenge for
its past publication of satirical images of the Prophet.
Ansi, the main ideologue for AQAP, said the "one who chose the
target, laid the plan and financed the operation is the
leadership of the organization", without naming an individual.
He added without elaborating that the strike was carried out in
"implementation" of the order of overall al Qaeda leader Ayman
al-Zawahri, who has called for strikes by Muslims in the West
using any means they can find.
AQAP itself is led by Nasser al-Wuhayshi, who is also Zawahri's
number two in the network's global hierarchy.
"We did it in compliance with the command of Allah and
supporting His Messenger, peace be upon Him," Ansi added.
It was not immediately possible to verify the authenticity of
the recording, which carried the logo of the al Qaeda's media
group al-Malahem.
The first edition of Charlie Hebdo published after last week's
attacks sold out within minutes at newspaper kiosks around
France on Wednesday, with people queuing up to buy copies to
support the satirical weekly.
(Reporting by Sami Aboudi and Yara Bayoumy, Editing by William
Maclean and Dominic Evans)
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