Masked gunmen have stormed the Paris offices of a satirical newspaper, killing 12 people before escaping, in France’s deadliest terror attack in at least two decades.
French President Francois Hollande said the attack on the Charlie Hebdo weekly, which has frequently drawn condemnation from Muslims, is “a terrorist attack, without a doubt”.
He added that several other attacks have been thwarted “in recent weeks”.
France has raised its alert to the highest level, and reinforced security at houses of worship, stores, media offices and transportation. Officials say the gunmen remain at large.
Paris prosecutor’s spokeswoman Agnes Thibault-Lecuivre confirmed that 12 peoplewere killed.
Luc Poignant, an official of the SBP police union, said the attackers escaped in two vehicles. A witness, Benoit Bringer, told the iTele network he saw multiple masked men armed with automatic weapons at the newspaper’s office in central Paris.
The extremist Islamic State group has threatened to attack France, and minutes before the attack Charlie Hebdo had tweeted a satirical cartoon of that extremist group’s leader giving New Year’s wishes.
Charlie Hebdo has been repeatedly threatened for publishing caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad, among other controversial sketches, and its offices were firebombed in 2011.
The 2011 firebombing came after a spoof issue featuring a caricature of the Prophet Muhammad on its cover. Nearly a year later, the publication again published crude Muhammad caricatures, drawing denunciations around the Muslim world.
Wednesday’s attack comes the same day of the release of a book by a celebrated French novelist depicting France’s election of its first Muslim president. Mr Hollande had been due to meet with the country’s top religious officials later in the day.