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Jessica Fino Sharecast News
07 Jan, 2015 11:48 07 Jan, 2015 16:25

Deadly attack on satirical French magazine Charlie Hebdo, attackers remain at large

Three gunmen remain on the run after shooting 12 people dead at the Paris office of Charlie Hebdo, a satirical magazine.

The 12 who were killed in the shooting include 10 journalists and two police, with at least five more seriously injured.

French president François Hollande raised the country's security alert system to its highest level after the attack, telling reporters: "This is a terrorist attack, there is no doubt about this."

Suspects left their car in Porte de Pantin in the 19th arrondissement in northeastern Paris, hijacked another one, turning driver out into the road, and are reported to still be on the run.

Around 3,000 officers were reported to be combing the streets of Paris insearch of the at-large shooters, with police carrying out a forensic examination of the black Citroen getaway car.

According to police, attackers shouted "we have avenged the prophet", local newswire France24 reported, while video footage was understood to have been taken by Premieres Lignes journalist Martin Boudot.

The last tweet from the Charlie Hebdo's Twitter feed before the attack was a spoof of the Ieader of the Islamic State militant group Al-Baghdadi giving a New Year’s greeting.

Those killed in the attack include Stephane Charbonnier, known as 'Charb', the magazine's publication director and cartoonist Jean Cabu, its artistic director, as well as cartoonists Bernard 'Tignou' Verlhac and George Wolinski, according to the magazine's lawyer.

Editor-in-chief Gerard Biard escaped the carnage as he was in London at the time.

This is not the first time the magazine has been attacked. In 2011, Charlie Hebdo was fire-bombed after publishing cartoons caricaturing the Prophet Mohammed.

Charbonnier was included in a 2013 'Wanted Dead or Alive for Crimes Against Islam' article published by Inspire, Al Qaeda's terrorist propaganda magazine.

In solidarity with the slain journalists, the Sydicat National des Journalistes (National Union of Journalists) will hold a rally on Wednesday evening in the centre of Paris, with numerous marches were being organised throughout France later on Wednesday, accordnig to Le Figaro.

Writer Salman Rushdie, who was subject of a fatwa after writing his novel The Satanic Verses, put out a statement, part of which read: "I stand with Charlie Hebdo, as we all must, to defend the art of satire, which has always been a force for liberty and against tyranny, dishonesty and stupidity.

"‘Respect for religion’ has become a code phrase meaning ‘fear of religion’. Religions, like all other ideas, deserve criticism, satire, and, yes, our fearless disrespect."

Ian Hislop, editor of UK satirical title Private Eye, said the victims of "paid a very high price for exercising their comic liberty".

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