Monday on CNN’s “Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer,” Rep Peter King (R-NY) said the Paris terror attack on Charlie Hebdo and the Kosher supermarket were a joint operation between Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) and ISIS.
Notably at the time both did take credit for the attacks.
Wolf Blitzer asked the congressman,”Charlie Hebdo and the Kosher supermarket were a lot more coordinated than we originally thought. Tell us the latest information you can share with us on how sophisticated that operation really was.”
King replied, “Well, it certainly was a level of sophistication to it. While I can’t go into details, we shouldn’t be surprised if there was coordination, whether it involved ISIS or al Qaeda. Really over the last several years, you’ve seen the type of cross-pollination or cooperation. You’ve seen it with al Qaeda and al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, with al-Shabaab. These groups, while they’re distinct, they share a lot and they have members who go from one group to another at any time. They do share an overriding ideology. They have differences in how they carry it out, the emphases. Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula is more concerned about attacking the United States than it appears ISIS is, but they basically have the same philosophy and ideology. It’s not surprising they would be working together on various operations.”
Blitzer pressed the point, saying, “I want to be precise, congressman. This was a joint AQAP, al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula/ISIS operation to go after that magazine in Paris, and then go after that Jewish supermarket?”
King answered, “Well, that’s what the reports say. I can’t comment on what the intelligence community is saying. You’ve obviously seen that in the public reports. I have no reason to doubt that.”
Blitzer continued, “So is ISIS working together with AQAP now?”
King said, “I would not be surprised to see that happening. Again, based certainly on what you have from Le Monde, that appears to be the case and you see this level of coordination that’s happened over the years. AQAP works with al-Shabaab at times and also al Qaeda. They work together when they have to. There’s no reason why ISIS would not be part of that axis, if you will.”
Wolf clarified, “The bottom line as far as the Paris attacks are concerned, from everything you know, everything you heard, it’s fair to say — I don’t want to put words in your mouth — this was an AQAP/ISIS attack.”
King concluded, “I would say, based on published reports, I have no reason to doubt them.
Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN
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