the attackers fleeing after shooting a police officer
Gunmen
have attacked the Paris office of French satirical magazine Charlie
Hebdo, killing 12 people and injuring seven in an apparent Islamist
attack.
At least two masked attackers opened fire with assault rifles
in the office and exchanged shots with police in the street outside
before escaping by car.The gunmen shouted "we have avenged the Prophet Muhammad", witnesses say.
President Francois Hollande said there was no doubt it had been a terrorist attack "of exceptional barbarity".
A major police operation is under way in the Paris area to catch the killers.
French President Francois Hollande: "This is an act of exceptional barbarism"
The latest tweet on Charlie Hebdo's account was a cartoon of the Islamic State militant group leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
A witness filmed the scene as the sound of gunshots were heard
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 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.
Charlie Hebdo and its satirical role
Live updates
A bullet impact at the Charlie Hebdo office in Paris
Several people were also critically injured
Police and rescue services near the office of Charlie Hebdo
Four cartoonists, including the magazine's editor-in-chief Stephane Charbonnier, have been reported killed in the attack. Mr Charbonnier, 47, had received death threats in the past and was living under police protection.
Footage shot by an eyewitness apparently from the attack shows two armed men dressed in black approach a wounded police officer lying on a pavement. One of the men shot the officer in the head, before both men were seen running back towards a black vehicle and driving away.
An eyewitness, Benoit Bringer, told French TV channel Itele: "Two black-hooded men entered the building with Kalashnikovs. A few minutes later we heard lots of shots."
The men were then seen fleeing the building.
Gilles Boulanger, who works in the same building as the office, told the same channel: "A neighbour called to warn me that there were armed men in the building and that we had to shut all the doors.
David Chour in Paris: "Two guys entered with Kalashnikov guns"
After the late morning attack, police warned French media outlets to be on alert and pay attention to security.
The country was already on the alert for Islamist attacks after several incidents just before Christmas.
Cars were driven at shoppers in two cities, Dijon and Nantes, and police were attacked by a man wielding a knife in Tours.
While the French government denied the attacks were linked, it announced plans to further raise security in public spaces, including the deployment of around 300 soldiers.
Live Reporting
By Alastair Lawson, Thom Poole, Paul Gribben, Andree Massiah, Victoria Park and Julia Macfarlane
All times stated are UKRecent live reporting posts
- Posted atFrench Justice Minister Christiane Taubira reacts outside the headquarters of Charlie Hebdo.
- Posted atStephane Charbonnier, the magazine's editor-in-chief reportedly killed in the attack, had received death threats in the past and was living under police protection.
- Posted atMore from the US: White House spokesman Josh Earnest told CNN he condemned the attack in the strongest possible terms. "It's not just an attack on the people of France, it's an attack on some of the basic values we hold dear in this country - freedom of speech, freedom of expression and a free press."
- Posted atThe French government has sent soldiers to protect public spaces in Paris.
- Posted atDanish cartoonist Kurt Westergaard, whose work depicting the Prophet Muhammad was reprinted in Charlie Hebdo, said he hoped "the moderate majority of Muslims" would condemn the attack.
- Posted atBBC Trending has pulled together some of the tweets to emerge from the attack.
- Posted atVideo of the gunmen fleeing the attack has emerged.
- Posted atPeople stand outside the French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo's office after the shooting.
- Posted atFrench politician Philip Cordery said a democratic freedom had been attacked: "Not only France, the whole of Europe is under shock today because by doing this horrendous act, the terrorists are once again attacking one of the important symbols of freedom, which is freedom of the press... and I think it's important for all democrats to unite and fight strongly against terrorism."
- Posted atFiamnetta Venner, who used to work at Charlie Hebdo, tells the BBC that journalists at the magazine had been afraid such an attack might happen: "We all were frightened of this moment, and this moment arrived. All of our friends who died, each day we will integrate them inside us. But I think they have just woken up an entire nation, because it's a generation of artists, of journalists who disappeared today."
- Posted atFrench President Francois Hollande (centre left), flanked by Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve (right), walk outside the French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo's office in Paris.
- Posted atEchoing the language of other world leaders, Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg called the attack "a barbaric act and an outrageous attack on press freedom".
- Posted atMore from Chancellor Merkel: "I'm shocked to receive the news of the malicious attack on a newspaper office in Paris. In these hours of pain I would like to express to you and your countrymen the sympathy of the German nation."
- Posted atSome of the magazine's cartoonists are among the dead, Le Point has reported.
- Posted atFrench police officers and forensic experts examine a car used by armed gunmen who stormed the Paris offices of satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo.http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-30710883http://www.bbc.com/news/live/world-europe-30710777
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