On patrol in Paris after attack

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Hailing the gunmen who carried out last week’s attack on a French satirical magazine as “heroes of Islam,” a senior commander of Yemen’s branch of Al Qaeda declared Wednesday in an online video that the group had organized and financed the deadly strike.

France announced an unprecedented deployment of thousands of troops and police to bolster security at “sensitive” sites including Jewish schools on January 12, a day after marches gathering nearly four million people countrywide.

The Jan. 7 attack on the magazine left 12 people dead, including two police officers. A total of 17 people were killed in the three days spanning the Charlie Hebdo attack, the manhunt for those involved and the seizing of hostages at a kosher supermarket in Paris.

At the time, the attackers cited cartoons published by the magazine depicting the prophet Muhammad, which they considered heresy — a theme that was echoed in the video, which was subtitled in English. “Stop your insults on our Prophet and sanctities,” al-Ansi admonishes in it.