It is not clear which militant group the attackers belonged to or whether the attack on Charlie Hebdo was a “lone-wolf” one.
The strike comes as Pakistani officials debate plans to strengthen a crackdown on the Taliban insurgency.
It was not known if the senior leader who was targeted had been killed.
The latest offensive comes barely a day after the army claimed it killed a Taliban commander who facilitated the Peshawar school attack.
Backed by the U.S., so-called moderate groups in the north of the country have united and renamed themselves the Levant Front.
The Pakistani army has intensified its operations in North Waziristan after a Taliban attack on a school last week killed over 130 children.
Pakistan's Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif outlined a 20-point plan to combat terrorism in the wake of the deadly Peshawar school attacks.
The Naval Criminal Investigative Service is investigating O'Neill over allegations that he may have leaked classified information.
Al Qaeda's Indian franchise said in a statement it is "forbidden to target ... places where ordinary Muslims could be harmed."
The intensified military offensives follow the attack on a school in Peshawar, where 148 people were killed by Taliban militants.
An investigation by the Guardian has revealed that al Qaeda-linked clerics attempted to secure the release of Peter Kassig from ISIS.
The rampage in Pakistan's restive city of Peshawar left about 126 people dead. All six militants who launched the attack are now dead.
Abu Anas al-Libi is suspected of helping orchestrate the 1998 attacks on U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.
French hostage Serge Lazarevic was released by al Qaeda last week after three years in captivity.
Among the contents found inside the vehicle were a so-called suicide belt and several firearms.
The George W. Bush administration relied on a false report to justify the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003, Sen. Carl Levin said Thursday.
Sunni tribesmen in Iraq are fighting their fellow Sunnis in the Islamic State group. They are a key element in defending Baghdad.
Ansar al-Shariah, an al Qaeda affiliate, reportedly claimed responsibility for the attack on Al Anad air base.
An official of the militant group argued that Washington had "foolishly" chosen armed force over negotiation.
Lazarevic was kidnapped from his hotel, along with another French citizen, three years ago, and has appeared in many videos by the group.
A senior al Qaeda leader denounced beheadings and outlined the group's strategy to defeat the U.S. in a video "press conference."
The failed rescue attempt of Luke Somers is just the latest such operation to go bad.