12 Dead in Daytime Paris Attack at Satirical Magazine

[Peter Lemkin]

Gunmen Kill 12 in Shooting at Paris Satirical Newspaper

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Max Read



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Masked gunmen wielding Kalashnikovs and a rocket launcher killed at least 12 people and injured 10 more at the Paris offices of satirical French newspaper Charlie Hebdo on Wednesday before escaping. French president François Hollande called the shooting "unquestionably a terrorist attack."
Video published by BFMTV and Le Monde, said to be from outside the Charlie Hebdo offices, shows two masked gunmen with large rifles. A longer, more graphic version of the video shows what appears to be the killing of a police officer; you can find it here.
Another video from the scene shows at least two gunmen shooting in the open street and shouting what might be "Allahu Akbar":
Two of the dead are policemen; the French cartoonists Cabu, Tignous, Wolinski, and Charb (the magazine's publisher) are all reported dead. A policeman at the scene of the shooting told reporters "it's carnage."
Authorities are in pursuit of the gunmen, who wounded a police officer and hit a pedestrian in their escape. Security levels have been raised at houses of worship in Paris
Charlie Hebdo is well-known for its intentionally offensive cartoons of the prophet Muhammad; in 2011, its offices were fire-bombed after it published the following cover, on which a cartoon Muhammad says "100 lashes if you don't die laughing":

Update, 9:04 a.m.: This week's issue of Charlie Hebdo depicts a caricature of Michel Houellebecq, the author of Submission, a new novel imagining an Islamic France in 2022 and a Muslim president that has been criticized as being anti-Muslim.
Gerard Biard, the magazine's editor-in-chief, told the Press Association that the publication had not received any threats prior to today's attack.
"Not to my knowledge, and I don't think anyone had received them as individuals, because they would have talked about it," he said. "There was no particular tension at the moment."
Photos identifying the Charlie Hebdo staff killed by the gunman have also been released by Agence France-Presse:
Update, 9:24 a.m.: A woman who works in the building where the Charlie Hebdo offices are located tells French newspaper L'Humanité that the shooters forced her at gunpoint to enter the code to open the building's door.
Le Monde reports that the gunmen attacked during a staff meeting, and apparently knew them all by name.