Al-Qaeda in Yemen has claimed responsibility for the deadly attack on Charlie Hebdo, saying it was ordered by the jihadist network's global chief to avenge the French magazine's cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed.
In a video entitled "A message regarding the blessed battle of Paris", al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) said that it had financed and plotted the assault on the weekly that left 12 people dead and shocked France.
But it said the orders had come from the very top of the global jihadist network - Ayman al-Zawahiri, the Egyptian doctor who succeeded al-Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden.
"We, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, claim responsibility for this operation as vengeance for the messenger of Allah," Nasser al-Ansi, one of AQAP's chiefs, said in the video.
The perpetrators of the attack, brothers Said and Cherif Kouachi, were known to have trained with al-Qaeda in Yemen.
AQAP was formed in January 2009 as a merger of the Yemeni and Saudi branches of al-Qaeda.
Washington regards it as the network's most dangerous branch and has carried out a sustained drone war against its leaders.
"The leadership of (AQAP) was the party that chose the target and plotted and financed the plan... It was following orders by our general chief Ayman al-Zawahiri," Ansi said of the attack on Charlie Hebdo.
"The heroes were chosen and they answered the call," he said.
Speaking over footage of the assault, Ansi said: "Today, the mujahedeen avenge their revered prophet, and send the clearest message to everyone who would dare to attack Islamic sanctities."
Ansi referenced a warning by bin Laden, who was killed by US commandos in Pakistan in 2011.
"If the freedom of your speech is not restrained, then you should accept the freedom of our actions," he said.
Charlie Hebdo had angered Muslims in the past by printing cartoons lampooning Mohammed and Islam.
The claim of responsibility coincided with the return of Charlie Hebdo to newsstands, amid unprecedented demand that saw the paper print five million copies.
As well as the attack on the magazine, four Jews were killed when another militant stormed a kosher supermarket in Paris.
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