Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula has claimed responsibility for last week’s deadly attack on Charlie Hebdo in a video posted on a Twitter account.

One of the group’s top commanders says the assault was in revenge for the French weekly’s publications of cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed.

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The claim came in a video posting by Nasr al-Ansi, a top commander of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, or AQAP as the branch is known, which appeared on the group’s Twitter account.

In the 11-minute video, al-Ansi says the assault on Charlie Hebdo, which killed 12 people – including editors, cartoonists and journalists, as well as two police officers – was in “revenge for the prophet”.

He said AQAP “chose the target, laid out the plan and financed the operation” against the weekly, though he produced no evidence to support the claim.

The two brothers, Said and Cherif Kouachi, who carried out the Charlie Hebdo attack were “heroes”, al-Ansi said.

“Congratulations to you for these brave men who blew off the dust of disgrace and lit the torch of glory in the darkness of defeat and agony.”

Al-Ansi accused France of belonging to the “party of Satan” and said the European country “shared all of America’s crimes” against Muslims – a reference to France’s military offensive in Mali.