Gunmen have shot dead 12 people at
the Paris office of French satirical
magazine Charlie Hebdo in an apparent
militant Islamist attack.
Four of the magazine's well-known
cartoonists, including its editor, were
among those killed, as well as two police
officers.
A major police operation is under way to
find three gunmen who fled by car.
President Francois Hollande said there was
no doubt it had been a terrorist attack "of
exceptional barbarity".
It is believed to be the deadliest attack in
France since 1961, when right-wingers who
wanted to keep Algeria French bombed a
train, killing 28 people.
The masked attackers opened fire with
assault rifles in the office and exchanged
shots with police in the street outside
before escaping by car. They later
abandoned the car in Rue de Meaux,
northern Paris, where they hijacked a
second car.
Witnesses said they heard the gunmen
shouting "We have avenged the Prophet
Muhammad" and "God is Great" in Arabic
(Allahu Akbar)
The number of attackers was initially
reported to be two, but French Interior
Minister Bernard Cazeneuve later said
security services were hunting three
"criminals". He said that Paris had been
placed on the highest alert.
Charlie Hebdo editor Stephane
Charbonnier, 47, had received death
threats in the past and was living under
police protection.
French media have named the three other
cartoonists killed in the attack as Cabu,
Tignous and Wolinski, as well as Charlie
Hebdo contributor and French economist
Bernard Maris.
The attack took place during the
magazine's daily editorial meeting.
At least four people were critically
wounded in the attack.
The satirical weekly has courted
controversy in the past with its irreverent
take on news and current affairs. It was
firebombed in November 2011 a day after
it carried a caricature of the Prophet
Muhammad.
source: m.bbc.com/news/world-europe-30710883

Islam is the worst that ever happened to the world
Rest in peace to the dead.