12 January 2015
DUBAI: Both brothers (click here) who carried out the attack against satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo traveled to Yemen via Oman in 2011 and had weapons training in the deserts of Marib, an Al-Qaeda stronghold, two senior Yemeni sources said on Sunday.
This is the first confirmation by Yemeni officials that both Cherif and Said Kouachi, who carried out the bloodiest attack on the West in decades, had visited Yemen where Al-Qaeda’s deadliest franchise, AQAP, is based. One Yemeni source had previously confirmed a visit by Said Kouachi.
The Paris attack puts a fresh spotlight on the AQAP branch that has recently focused on fighting enemies at home such as government forces and Shiite rebels but still aims to carry out attacks abroad....
...A senior Yemeni intelligence source confirmed the brothers had entered Yemen via Oman in 2011, citing the ease with which they entered while the security forces were focused on the Arab Spring protests that were convulsing the country at the time.
The source also confirmed the brothers had met Awlaki “and trained in Wadi Abida,” — which is between Marib and Shabwa provinces where Awlaki was known to move freely.
The Kouachi brothers were shot dead by French security forces after they took refuge in a print works outside Paris.
Awlaki, an influential militant recruiter, was killed by a suspected US drone strike in Sept. 2011.
Cherif Kouachi told a television station he had received financing from Awlaki and that he had been “sent” by Al-Qaeda in Yemen.
Meanwhile, a man resembling Amedy Coulibaly, who shot a policewoman and took hostages at a Jewish supermarket in the Paris attacks, claimed to be a member of the Islamic State group in a posthumous video released online on Sunday....
DUBAI: Both brothers (click here) who carried out the attack against satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo traveled to Yemen via Oman in 2011 and had weapons training in the deserts of Marib, an Al-Qaeda stronghold, two senior Yemeni sources said on Sunday.
This is the first confirmation by Yemeni officials that both Cherif and Said Kouachi, who carried out the bloodiest attack on the West in decades, had visited Yemen where Al-Qaeda’s deadliest franchise, AQAP, is based. One Yemeni source had previously confirmed a visit by Said Kouachi.
The Paris attack puts a fresh spotlight on the AQAP branch that has recently focused on fighting enemies at home such as government forces and Shiite rebels but still aims to carry out attacks abroad....
...A senior Yemeni intelligence source confirmed the brothers had entered Yemen via Oman in 2011, citing the ease with which they entered while the security forces were focused on the Arab Spring protests that were convulsing the country at the time.
The source also confirmed the brothers had met Awlaki “and trained in Wadi Abida,” — which is between Marib and Shabwa provinces where Awlaki was known to move freely.
The Kouachi brothers were shot dead by French security forces after they took refuge in a print works outside Paris.
Awlaki, an influential militant recruiter, was killed by a suspected US drone strike in Sept. 2011.
Cherif Kouachi told a television station he had received financing from Awlaki and that he had been “sent” by Al-Qaeda in Yemen.
Meanwhile, a man resembling Amedy Coulibaly, who shot a policewoman and took hostages at a Jewish supermarket in the Paris attacks, claimed to be a member of the Islamic State group in a posthumous video released online on Sunday....
