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.
Death threats
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.
Global condemnation
The latest tweet on Charlie Hebdo's account was a cartoon of the
Islamic State militant group leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
Charlie Hebdo's website, which went offline during the attack, is
showing the single image of "Je suis Charlie" ("I am Charlie) on
a black banner, referring to a hashtag that is trending on Twitter in
solidarity with the victims.
People had been "murdered in a cowardly manner", President
Hollande told reporters at the scene. "We are threatened because
we are a country of liberty," he added, appealing for national unity.
French government officials are holding an emergency meeting,
and President Hollande is due to give a televised address later.
US President Barack Obama has condemned the "horrific
shooting", offering to provide any assistance needed "to help
bring these terrorists to justice".
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said: "It was a horrendous,
unjustifiable and cold-blooded crime. It was also a direct assault
on a cornerstone of democracy, on the media and on freedom of
expression."
UK Prime Minister David Cameron said in a tweet: "The murders in
Paris are sickening. We stand with the French people in the fight
against terror and defending the freedom of the press."
The Arab League and Al-Azhar mosque, Egypt's top Islamic institution
, have also condemned the attack.
Analysis: Hugh Schofield, BBC News, Paris
Charlie Hebdo is part of a venerable tradition in French journalism
going back to the scandal sheets that denounced Marie-Antoinette
in the run-up to the French Revolution.
The tradition combines left-wing radicalism with a provocative
scurrility that often borders on the obscene. Its decision to mock
the Prophet Muhammad in 2011 was entirely consistent with its
historic raison d'etre.
The paper has never sold in enormous numbers - and for 10 years
from 1981, it ceased publication for lack of resources.
But with its garish front-page cartoons and incendiary headlines,
it is an unmissable staple of newspaper kiosks and railway station
booksellers.
The gunmen targeted the Charlie Hebdo office in Paris in the late morning
France has raised its security alert for Paris to the highest level
'Blood everywhere'
Footage shot by an eyewitness outside the magazine's office
shows two armed men dressed in black approach a wounded
police officer lying on a pavement. One of the men shoots the officer
in the head, before both men are seen running back towards a
black vehicle and driving away.
Eyewitnesses described seeing two black-hooded men entering the
building carrying Kalashnikovs, with reports of up to 50 shots fired.
Large numbers of police and rescue services rushed to the scene
The attackers switched cars after fleeing the scene
Gilles Boulanger, who works in the same building as the office
, told French TV channel Itele: "There were several shots heard
in the building from automatic weapons firing in all directions.
So then we looked out of the window and saw the shooting
was on Boulevard Richard-Lenoir, with the police. It was really
upsetting. You'd think it was a war zone."
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-30710883
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