At least 12 dead in Paris after attack on satirical newspaper

At least 12 people were killed in a shooting Wednesday at a French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, which has published cartoons of the Muslim Prophet Muhammad, police told reporters.

Two police officers were among those killed. Currently, the number of injured people is thought to be around 20, of which four are critically wounded, according to Reuters.

French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve told media that security forces were hunting for three gunmen, who fled towards the eastern Paris suburbs after holding up a car.

"There is possibility of other attacks and other sites are being secured," Police union official Rocco Contento told Reuters.

The 12 dead included two men who went by the pen names: Charb - the editor and a cartoonist as well - and the cartoonist Cabu, the Paris prosecutor's office told the Associated Press.

France's terror alert was raised to the highest level after the shooting, President Francois Hollande told local media. He confirmed that several terrorist attacks had been foiled by security sources over recent weeks.

Hollande later tweeted: "No barbaric act will ever shoot down press freedom. We are a united country that can react and unite."

"Two black-hooded men entered the building with Kalashnikovs (guns)," journalist Benoit Bringer told French news channel iTELE, according to Reuters. "A few minutes later we heard lots of shots," he said, adding that the men were then seen fleeing the building.

A picture from the as-yet-unverified account of Le Monde journalist Elise Barthet apparently shows the shooters firing on a police car.



Charlie Hebdo is renowned for courting controversy. In 2012 it published cartoons of the Muslim prophet Muhammad, forcing France to temporarily close its embassies and schools in more than 20 countries amid fears of reprisals.

Its offices were also firebombed in November 2011 after publishing the Muhammad cartoon.

The magazine's last tweet before the shooting was of a cartoon of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, leader of terrorist organization ISIS.

A series of rallies under the slogan "Je Suis Charlie" (I am Charlie), have been called across France this evening in support of freedom of the press.

Global Reaction

World leaders including U.S. President Barack Obama and Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel condemned the attack.

U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron tweeted: "The murders in Paris are sickening. We stand with the French people in the fight against terror and defending the freedom of the press."

Source: CNBC