Al-Qaeda's Paris attack not the first to target cartoonists
Al-Qaeda's attack on Charlie Hebdo in Paris is not the group's first targeting of European cartoonists, as the group had planned to attack the offices of a Danish newspaper in 2009.
![A protester shouts slogans in front of the French embassy in Sanaa A protester shouts slogans during a demonstration against satirical French weekly Charlie Hebdo, which featured a cartoon of the Prophet Mohammad as the cover of its first edition since an attack by Islamist gunmen, in front of the French embassy in Sanaa January 17, 2015. REUTERS/Mohamed al-Sayaghi (YEMEN - Tags: CIVIL UNREST) - RTR4LS4B](/sites/default/files/styles/article_hero_medium/public/almpics/2015/01/RTR4LS4B.jpg/RTR4LS4B.jpg?h=e92c5d5c&itok=nphONurZ)
The terrorist attack in Paris targeting the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo for publishing cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad was not the first al-Qaeda plot to attack cartoonists in Europe. A plot foiled in 2009 to attack the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten was eerily similar to the Paris operation and was connected directly to the senior al-Qaeda leadership.
Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) claimed credit for the Paris attack in a series of messages, tweets and a video released Jan. 13. The 11-minute video featured AQAP ideologue Nasser bin Ali al-Ansi, who unequivocally said AQAP "chose the target, laid the plan and financed the operation." This is consistent with media reports that at least one of the two French-Algerian brothers who carried out the attack trained with AQAP in Yemen.