Al-Qaeda Branch Issues New Warning to France

Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb cautions France there will be more attacks because of its “hostility to Islam”.

MOSCOW, January 13 (Sputnik) – Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, the North Africa branch, published a new warning on jihadist websites, reports CNN.

"France pays the cost of its violence on Muslim countries and the violation of their sanctity," AQIM said in its statement.

"As long as its soldiers occupy countries such as Mali and Central Africa and bombard our people in Syria and Iraq, and as long as it’s lame media continues to undermine our Prophet (Mohammed), France will expose itself to the worst and more."

The jihadist group also paid tribute to the three gunmen responsible for the killing of 17 people in a massacre last week in Paris that began with an attack on the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo.

The statement described them as "the soldiers of Islam" and "heroes of the battle of Paris," reports The Israel National.

The recent threat comes as the families and world leaders gathered to mourn the victims that were killed in last week's French terror attacks.

In Jerusalem, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu honored four hostages that were killed on Friday in a siege at a kosher market in Paris.

As reports CNN, the bodies of all four victims, Philippe Braham, Yohan Cohen, Yoav Hattab and François-Michel Saada, were flown to Israel and will be buried at the Givat Shaul cemetery in Jerusalem. All four men were French Jews.

According to Israel National, the offices of Charlie Hebdo were firebombed by alleged Islamists in 2011 when it published other cartoons mocking the Prophet, causing no injuries.

The attackers of last week, the two gunmen declared that they had "avenged the Prophet Mohammed" as they left the scene.