Here’s a look at what we know about the Islamist extremist group.
Where is AQAP based?
AQAP has its home in Yemen, an impoverished Middle Eastern nation that borders Saudi Arabia and Oman and eyes strife-torn Somalia across the Gulf of Aden.
In recent months, the Sunni extremist group has come under pressure within Yemen from Shiite Houthi rebels and government forces.
But the Paris attack shows the group’s apparent continued ability to direct operations beyond Yemen’s borders.
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He also influenced Carlos Bledsoe, who shot up an Army recruiting center in Little Rock, Arkansas, killing an American soldier in 2009. After the attacks, Bledsoe said his spiritual inspiration was al-Awlaki.
Maj. Nidal Hasan killed 13 people at Fort Hood, Texas, in 2009 after sending 18 emails to al-Awlaki in Yemen, a correspondence that was known to the FBI. Al-Awlaki did not direct this attack, but he was the key inspiration for Hasan.
The “underwear bomber” Umar Farouk AbdulMutallab’s botched attempt to bring down an American jet over Detroit in the fall of 2009 also was directed by al-Awlaki, Bergen said.
A video released by AQAP’s official media arm in December showed a short clip of AbdulMutallab together with both al-Wuhayshi and al-Awlaki.
CNN’s Salma Abdelaziz, Tim Lister, Paul Cruickshank and Barbara Starr contributed to this report, as did journalist Hakim Almasmari.
