CAIRO — Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula claimed on Sunday that it directed a Saudi military officer to carry out the shooting at a United States military base in Florida in December that killed three sailors and wounded eight people.

In an audio recording released on Sunday, the leader of the Yemen-based group, Qassim al-Rimi, claimed responsibility for the Dec. 6 attack at Naval Air Station Pensacola, according to SITE, an organization that tracks jihadist media.

The group offered no evidence that it had trained the gunman, Second Lt. Mohammed Saeed Alshamrani, but produced a copy of his will as well as correspondence that indicated he had been in contact with Al Qaeda. Experts said those elements gave the claim a plausible air.

Mr. al-Rimi, the Qaeda leader, may himself be dead. He was the target of an American drone strike in eastern Yemen last week, according to American and Yemeni officials who said they believed he had been killed but were awaiting confirmation.