Yemeni al-Qaeda calls for lone wolf attacks in West

The Yemen-based Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) has renewed its call for launching stand-alone terror attacks in Western countries.

After claiming responsibility for the Paris killings over the Muhammad cartoons published by French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo, the most active and powerful wing of the al-Qaeda has said that if someone is capable of carrying out "individual jihad" then the person should go ahead.

"If he is capable of waging individual jihad in the Western countries that fight Islam... then that is better and more harmful," Nasser bin Ali al-Ansi, a senior commander with the Yemeni group, has been quoted as saying by the SITE monitoring group.

The insurgent leader added: "We have made efforts in external work, and the enemy knows the danger of that... We are preparing and lurking for the enemies of Allah. We incite the believers to do that."

The Paris massacre is the first major operation by the Yemeni group on western soil while its earlier attempts were foiled. Though the militant group has claimed responsibility, officials are yet to confirm whether the AQAP is directly behind the attack.

With the increasing instability in Yemen over Houthi Shia rebel groups' advances against the government, concerns have also grown about the Islamist extremist group's ability to capitalise on the opportunity to stage large-scale attacks outside Yemen.