Paris terror attack

Hooded terrorists attacked the French magazine office that published the satirical publication showing Muslim leaders depicted as cartoons.

12 people are dead after the attack including an editor and cartoonist at the magazine. At least 20 More people are injured.

A huge manhunt is under way in Paris for three masked and hooded men armed with a Kalashnikov and a shotgun who stormed the offices of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, killing 12 people – including two policemen – before escaping in a car.

Visiting the scene of the country’s worst atrocity in decades, the French president, François Hollande, described it as “a terrorist attack, without a doubt”. Hollande said the assault, which happened at about 11.30am on Wednesday after the magazine’s staff had gathered for their weekly editorial meeting, was “an act of exceptional barbarism”.

Warning that several other attacks had been foiled in recent weeks, the president called for national unity and convened an emergency cabinet meeting. The French government raised the terror alert level in the greater Paris region to the highest level possible.

Five of the victims have been named, including four Charlie Hebdo journalists: editor Stéphane Charbonnier and cartoonists Jean Cabut, Georges Wolinski and Bernard Verlhac. AFP reported that Bernard Maris, an economist and writer who contributed to the magazine, was also killed.

The attack comes amid mounting tension about immigration in France and what many non-Muslim French see as rising Islamic influence in society.

Cherlie Hebdo’s cover story this week featured Michel Houellebecq, the controversial author whose latest book Soumission, or Submission, portrays France in 2022 run by a Muslim president, according to the laws of conservative Islam.

The Islamic State extremist group has previously warned it intends to attack France, and in what appeared to be its last tweet before the attack, Charlie Hebdo staff posted a satirical cartoon of the group’s leader giving his New Year’s best wishes. The magazine has itself frequently been criticised – and prosecuted under anti-racism laws – for publishing cartoons of the Muhammad. Its offices were firebombed in 2011 after it published a spoof cover featuring a cartoon of the Muslim prophet.

I'm With you Brothers... Prayers and big HUG to the Families of the Victims!!!