Al Qaeda leader claims Charlie Hebdo massacre took years in making

Washington: A leader of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) has said in a video that the Paris attack that killed 12 people at Charlie Hebdo's headquarters took years in the making.

According to CNN, the Al Qaeda leader also said that the U.S.-born cleric Anwar al-Awlaki was the mastermind behind the Charlie Hebdo massacre.

Al-Awlaki was killed in a U.S. drone strike in Yemen in 2011. However, AQAP has not yet claimed responsibility for the Kosher grocery store shootings in Paris but praised it.

The claim of responsibility came in a video that showed AQAP commander Nasr Ibn Ali al-Ansi, with pictures of the Kouachis in the background.