Amedy Coulibaly—one of the assailants responsible for the wave of attacks that claimed the lives of journalists, police officers and hostages in France last week—appears in a video released to the public on Sunday in which he attempts to justify the attacks.
"What we are doing is completely legitimate, given what they are doing," Coulibaly, who was 32, said in French, and sometimes Arabic, while looking into the camera, the New York Daily News reports.
According to reports, Coulibaly killed a policewoman on Friday and then later killed four hostages at a supermarket in Paris. During the hostage incident, he demanded that French law enforcement release his associates, Cherif and Said Kouachi—the two brothers suspected of gunning down staffers in the newsroom of French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo. The newspaper drew the ire of some Muslims for publishing cartoons that mocked and parodied the Prophet Muhammad.
"You cannot attack and not expect retribution, so you are playing the victim as if you don't understand what's happening," Coulibaly continued.
He also said that he pledged allegiance to the Islamic State, also known as ISIS—the rebel group that is fighting Iraqi and Syrian forces. "I pledged allegiance [to the Islamic State] as soon as the caliphate was created,” Coulibaly said.
The video was released the same day that millions of people, including high-level officials from numerous nations, gathered in Paris to show their support for France and the 17 individuals who lost their lives during the attacks. Hayat Boumeddiene, the lone female suspect, is still at large.
Read more at the New York Daily News.