Al Qaeda, ISIS vie for glory after Paris attacks

A Yemen-based branch of al Qaeda is claiming responsibility for the terror attack against the French satirical weekly, Charlie Hebdo, but supporters of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) are also trying to claim credit for the carnage in Paris in what experts see as a competition for jihadist credibility.

Intelligence officials said Said and Cherif Kouachi, the men behind the newspaper assault, received training and cash from al Qaeda, reports CBS News correspondent Wyatt Andrews. Sources tell CBS News that in 2011, al Qaeda gave Said Kouachi $20,000 to finance a future operation.

Last Friday, just before both brothers were killed by French police, Cherif Kouachi told the French network BFM that their attacks were directed by al Qaeda.

But then came the suggestion al Qaeda and ISIS were working together.

Ahmedy Coulibaly, an ISIS follower who took hostages in the Jewish supermarket last Friday said on tape before the attack he was working in concert with the Kouachi brothers.

"Some of this was done together and some of it alone, in order to have a greater impact," he claimed.

Experts who track jihadist groups say it's likely Coulibaly and the Kouachi brothers worked together last Friday because they were friends, not because of an ISIS-al Qaeda alliance. Aaron Zelin of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy says ISIS and al Qaeda are rivals.

"I do firmly believe, at the top levels of these organizations, they are definitely enemies," Zelin said. "It's clear that Coulibaly and the Kouachi brothers definitely teamed up, I think a lot of that is related to their own personal friendship and relations going back a decade."

But Zelin also said ISIS wants to claim some credit for the French attacks in its quest for recruits and for relevance.

"I think what we see now, ever since especially the rise of [ISIS] ... there is competition between the two groups for, sort of, who is global leader of this jihadi movement," Zelin said.

Al Qaeda's statement praises Coulibaly, the ISIS supporter, as a mujahid brother, but dismisses his attacks as coincidental to al Qaeda efforts. Experts see this as a dangerous escalation, as ISIS and al Qaeda compete over claims of who's better attacking the west.