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paris shooting

At least 40 people have been killed in several shootings in Paris, as well as explosions near the Stade de France.

According to French media, at least 15 people have been killed near the Bataclan arts centre. A hostage taking is under way, with reports of up to 60 held.

At least one man opened fire at a restaurant in the 11th district, causing several several casualties.

Three explosions are also reported outside a bar near the Stade de France.Paris shootings 2015

France was hosting Germany in a friendly and the match continued. It has now ended

An eyewitness told Liberation he had heard more than 100 rounds being fired at a cafe in rue de Charonne.

There are reports of up to six gunmen involved.

Reports say French President Francois Hollande was watching the match at the Stade de France and has been moved to safety.

President Francois Hollande and Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve have gone to the interior ministry.

Five million copies of Charlie Hebdo are being printed as long queues have formed at newsstands in France for the post attack edition of the satirical magazine.

The survivor’s issue is released a week after Islamist gunmen murdered 12 people at its offices and five others in subsequent attacks in Paris.

Charlie Hebdo’s latest edition cover shows a cartoon depicting the Prophet Muhammad weeping while holding a sign saying “I am Charlie”.

Al-Qaeda in Yemen claimed the attack on Charlie Hebdo magazine in a video purportedly from the group.

It is believed earlier cartoons of the Prophet prompted the attack on the magazine.

“I am Charlie” emerged as a message of support for the magazine following the attack on January 7, which left 8 journalists, including its editor, dead in addition to four others.

In a separate attack in Paris two days later, four Jewish men died after an Islamist gunmen took hostages at a kosher shop in the French capital.

A police woman was shot dead in a third shooting believed to have been carried out by the same attacker.

Photo AFP

Photo AFP

Three million copies of the latest edition of Charlie Hebdo were originally printed for distribution.

Copies in France quickly sold out on Wednesday morning. Editors then decided to increase the print run to five million. Normally, only 60,000 are printed each week.

Demand for what is being called the “survivors’ issue” of the magazine is high, in part because the proceeds will go to the victims’ families, correspondents say.

Kiosk owners told French media they had received large numbers of reservation requests, while at one shop in Paris all copies were reportedly sold out within five minutes.

Charlie Hebdo‘s decision to publish another cartoon of the Prophet has already generated threats from militant Islamist websites and criticism from the Islamic world.

The self-styled Islamic State (ISIS) militant group said on its radio station that the publication of the cartoon was “an extremely stupid act”.

Meanwhile, a new video said to be from al-Qaeda in Yemen (AQAP) was aired on January 14 saying the group was behind last week’s attack on the magazine.

The group “chose the target, laid the plan and financed the operation”, which was conducted in “vengeance for the prophet”, the video message said.

It added that it was a “success” that the Charlie Hebdo attack “coincided” with the attacks by supermarket gunman Amedy Coulibaly.

Amedy Coulibaly had pledged allegiance to ISIS in a video message, while the Charlie Hebdo attackers, Said and Cherif Kopuachi, had said they were acting on behalf of AQAP.

Amedy Coulibaly had also said they had co-ordinated the attacks, but experts say it is highly unlikely IS and AQAP, rivals in the Middle East, would plan an attack together.

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French police are hunting for any accomplices of the gunmen who killed 17 people in two days of terror attacks.

One key figure is Hayat Boumeddiene, Amedy Coulibaly’s girlfriend. He was killed when police stormed HyperCacher supermarket in Paris on January 9.

Hayat Boumeddiene was said to be with Amedy Coulibaly when a female police officer was killed and is described as “armed and dangerous”.

Cherif and Said Kouachi, the two gunmen who carried out Wednesday’s deadly attack on Charlie Hebdo magazine, were killed by police on January 9.

President Francois Hollande praised the police but also warned of further threats.

He thanked the security services for their “bravery and efficiency”, saying the week’s violence was “a tragedy for the nation”.

Francois Molins, the chief prosecutor in France, said authorities were urgently focusing on Hayat Boumeddiene.

French newspaper Le Monde published a series of photos said to show Amedy Coulibaly with Hayat Boumeddiene in 2010. In one, the 26-year-old woman is pictured pointing a crossbow at the camera while wearing a full-face veil, which is banned in France.

Francois Molins said the investigation would “focus on determining who their accomplices were, how these criminal actions were financed, and all the instruction and help they may have benefited from whether in France, from overseas”.

He said 16 people had been detained for questioning, including the wife of one of the Kouachi brothers and other members of their family.

French government ministers are meeting on Saturday morning to plan their next steps.

A number of world leaders have called Francois Hollande to express support.

The first siege on January 9 – in Dammartin-en-Goele, 22 miles north of Paris – involved the Kouachi brothers who had attacked the offices of the Charlie Hebdo magazine on January 7.

Cherif and Said Kouachi were shot dead as they came out of a warehouse building firing at police. Two officers were injured.

One hostage had earlier been released and a second employee, who was hiding in the building’s cafeteria, was freed by police after the shooting ended.

Police shortly afterwards launched an assault on HyperCacher supermarket in Paris, killing Amedy Coulibaly and rescuing 15 hostages. They found the bodies of four hostages believed to have been killed before the assault.

Officials have said they were aware of Amedy Coulibaly and the Kouachi brothers. Said Kouachi was known to have travelled to Yemen in 2011.

Said and Cherif Kouachi are understood to have been on UK and US watch-lists.

While holed up in the warehouse north of Paris, Cherif Kouachi phoned a French TV news network and told them he was acting on behalf of the Yemen branch of al-Qaeda (AQAP).Hayat Boumeddiene Paris shooting

The extremist group released an audio message late on January 9 praising the attacks but stopped short of claiming responsibility.

AQAP senior leader Sheikh Harith al-Nadhari said “some in France have misbehaved with the prophets of God,” adding that “God’s faithful soldiers” had taught them “the limits of freedom of speech”.

Earlier on Friday, a man claiming to be Amedy Coulibaly told French TV station BFMTV that he was a member of the Islamic State militant group, and that he had “co-ordinated” his attack with the Kouachi brothers.

Francois Molins confirmed that Amedy Coulibaly knew one of the brothers and their respective partners had spoken on the phone more than 500 times.

During Friday’s siege, Amedy Coulibaly had threatened to kill his captives if police attempted to capture the brothers, he added.

PM Manuel Valls admitted there had been a “clear failing” in French intelligence.

“If 17 people die, this means mistakes have been made,” he said, including those killed in attacks on January 7 and 8 in the toll.

The violence started on January 7 when the Kouachi brothers killed 12 people and injured 11 in an attack on the offices of Charlie Hebdo.

The unprecedented attack shocked France and there has been an outpouring of sympathy and solidarity worldwide.

The French ministers’ meeting on Saturday will make preparations for a huge unity rally due to take place in the heart of Paris on January 11.

Among those attending will be UK PM David Cameron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Spanish PM Mariano Rajoy.

President Barack Obama said he had directed his intelligence agencies to help France deal with any further threats.

Meanwhile, the US state department has updated its travel guidance, warning Americans travelling abroad to maintain a high level of vigilance.

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Four hostages have been killed at HyperCacher as anti-terror forces stormed the Jewish supermarket in eastern Paris.

Several hostages were being held by a gunman with links to Charlie Hebdo attack suspects.

It is not clear whether the four hostages were killed before or after the police assault began.

Another four hostages were seriously injured, but 15 were freed alive.

After the police operation started, several hostages could be seen leaving the HyperCacher supermarket.

Two police officers were injured in the rescue operation, AP reported.

In a separate incident, a hostage at the warehouse in Dammartin-en-Goele, 22 miles north of Paris was also freed, while a police officer at the scene was injured, AFP news agency said.

Charlie Hebdo attack suspects Cherif and Said Kouachi have been killed in the incident.

French President Francois Hollande has described the events as “a tragedy for the nation”.

In a national address, Francois Hollande thanked the security forces for their “courage, bravery [and] efficiency”, but added that France still faced threats.

“We have to be vigilant. I also ask you to be united – it’s our best weapon,” he said.

“We must be implacable towards racism,” he added, saying that the supermarket attack was an “appalling anti-Semitic act”.

“Those who committed these acts, these fanatics, have nothing to do with the Muslim faith.”

The police assaults came after three tense days in France.

Twelve people were shot dead and 11 were injured in Wednesday’s attack on the office of Charlie Hebdo magazine.HyperCacher hostages Paris

The unprecedented attack shocked France and there has been an outpouring of sympathy and solidarity worldwide.

The two suspects of the Charlie Hebdo shootings, brothers Cherif and Said Kouachi, then went on the run for two days, before being surrounded at Dammartin as night fell on Friday.

French police said they came out firing.

The hostage taker in eastern Paris targeted Jewish supermarket HyperCacher, near Porte de Vincennes. He has been named as Amedy Coulibaly, 32. It is not clear whether he had an accomplice.

He knew at least one of the suspected Charlie Hebdo attackers, a source told AFP news agency.

Amedy Coulibaly had threatened to kill his captives if police attempted to capture the brothers, reports citing police said.

Earlier on Friday, a man claiming to be Amedy Coulibaly told French TV station BFMTV that he was a member of the Islamic State militant group, and that he had “co-ordinated” his attack with the Kouachi brothers.

Amedy Coulibaly was also suspected of being behind the shooting of a policewoman in the southern suburb of Montrouge on January 8.

On January 9, French police issued an appeal for witnesses to that shooting. They said they were looking for Amedy Coulibaly, as well as a woman called Hayat Boumeddiene, 26.

Hayat Boumeddiene’s whereabouts are not clear.

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Police have stormed two hostage sites in Paris and north of the city.

Gunshots and explosions have been heard at a printing facility in Dammartin-en-Goele, where two suspects in the Charlie Hebdo shootings, Cherif and Said Kouachi, were holding at least one hostage.

French media are reporting that brothers Cherif and Said Kouachi have been killed.

Explosions and gunfire could also be heard at kosher supermarket HyperCacher in eastern Paris, at Porte de Vincennes.

A gunman there was thought to be holding several hostages. Reports suggest he is linked to the Charlie Hebdo suspects.

Several hostages could be seen coming out from the HyperCacher supermarket.

The hostage at the printworks warehouse has also been freed, AFP news agency said.

Heavily armed anti-terror teams are mobilized in eastern Paris after a gunman has seized hostages at a kosher supermarket.

Schools near the supermarket are under lockdown, AP news agency reports.

Separately police have ordered the closure of all shops in the Marais, a traditionally Jewish area in the heart of Paris’s central tourist district.

The hostage-taker in eastern Paris – said to have taken up to five people prisoner – knew at least one of the suspected Charlie Hebdo attackers, a source told AFP news agency.

The gunman is suspected to be behind the shooting of a policewoman in Montrouge on January 8.

French police have issued an appeal for witnesses to that shooting. They said they were looking for two people: a man called Amedy Coulibaly, 32, and a woman called Hayat Boumeddiene, 26.Paris kosher grocery attack

The two were thought to be “armed and dangerous”, French police said.

The Charlie Hebdo attackers, named as brothers Said and Cherif Kouachi, linked by intelligence officials to militant groups, shouted Islamist slogans during the shooting at the magazine office on January 7 and then fled Paris in a hijacked car, heading north.

Shots were fired during a high-speed car chase earlier on Friday.

It appears the suspects had hijacked another car in the town of Montagny-Sainte-Felicite before travelling on to Dammartin.

The car’s owner is said to have recognized them as brothers Cherif and Said Kouachi, the key suspects.

In a televised statement, Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve confirmed the men being sought on January 9 were those wanted for the Charlie Hebdo attack and said they would be “neutralized”.

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Hostages have been taken by a gunman at a Jewish bakery at Porte de Vincennes in Paris.

There are suggestions that the gunman may be the one who shot dead a female police officer on January 8. Police are now evacuating the area.

Separately, an intense standoff is ongoing between police and the Kouachi brothers suspected of carrying out the massacre at satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, on January 7.

Photo Twitter

Photo Twitter

The gunman, believed to be the same man who killed a policewoman in Montrouge, southern Paris, on January 8 has reportedly stormed a kosher bakery and grocery store in the Vincennes area, taking five people hostage.

Witnesses said the man is heavily armed and opened fire upon entering the premises. Early reports suggest at least one person was injured in the shooting.

Security forces have rushed to the scene and are cordoning off the area.

The hostages are said to include women and children. Vincennes is located on the eastern outskirts of Paris.

Earlier local media named the Montrouge gunman as Amedy C., a 32-year-old radical belonging to the same jihadi cell of Cherif and Said Kouachi, the brothers who allegedly responsible for the Charlie Hebdo massacre.

Police have surrounded a building in northern France where Charlie Hebdo massacre suspects Cherif and Said Kouachi are said to have a hostage.

Shots have been fired and several people are said to have been wounded in Dammartin-en-Goele, 22 miles from Paris.

The development comes nearly 48 hours after the attack on Charlie Hebdo‘s office, when 12 people were shot dead.

The heavily armed gunmen fled Paris by car after the attack.

The attackers, who shouted Islamist slogans, are believed to have been angered by Charlie Hebdo‘s irreverent depictions of the Prophet Muhammad.

They are said to have shouted “We are al-Qaeda, Yemen”, an apparent reference to the al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula group (AQAP).

In the US, a senior official has told reporters that one of the two brothers alleged to have carried out the attack, Said Kouachi, spent “a few months” training in Yemen with the group.Charlie Hebdo suspects surrounded

Said Kouachi and his younger brother, convicted terrorist Cherif Kouachi, were on a US no-fly list before the attack, a US counter-terrorism official told the New York Times.

In Dammartin, witnesses say police are protecting people in buildings close to the siege of a printing firm building.

Officers from the elite GIGN unit have told people working nearby to stay inside and turn lights off while the operation is going on.

People in the area say police helicopters began arriving around 08:45 local time followed by convoys of armed officers.

Some of those in premises in the industrial area where the suspects are cornered have been evacuated.

Police and military helicopters continue to hover low over the area, while lines of armed officers are guarding the edge of the national highway were traffic continues to flow.

The security situation at the town of Dammartin-en-Goele has affected flights at the main airport in Paris, which is in the vicinity. Officials at Paris Charles de Gaulle airport say they have changed landing and take-off patterns for aircraft in the light of the security situation.

Meanwhile, police are said to have identified a suspect in Thursday’s fatal shooting of a policewoman in Montrouge, south of Paris.

AFP quotes a source close to the investigation as saying that two people in his immediate circle have been taken into custody.

Suspects linked to the Charlie Hebdo massacre, Cherif and Said Kouachi, have taken a hostage at a business facility in a Paris suburb as French police close in on them.

Shots have been fired and several people are said to have been wounded at Dammartin-en-Goele, 22 miles from Paris, but officials denied reports of deaths.

Negotiations are now under way with police, reports say.Charlie Hebdo attack, hostage taken in Paris

The development comes nearly 48 hours after the attack on Charlie Hebdo‘s office, when 12 people were shot dead.

The heavily armed gunmen fled Paris by car after the attack.

A convoy of police vehicles has been seen heading by highway to Dammartin-en-Goele.

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French police are hunting for Cherif and Said Kouachi, the two brothers suspected of carrying out the massacre at the Paris office of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, in which 12 people died.

Said and Cherif Kouachi are considered “armed and dangerous”, a police bulletin says. Photos were also released of the two suspects, who are Algerian-origin French citizens resident in Paris.

Cherif Kouachi, 32, was jailed in 2008 and had long been known to police for militant Islamist activities, French media reported.

He also went by the name Abu Issen and was part of the “Buttes-Chaumont network” that helped send would-be jihadists to fight for al-Qaeda in Iraq after the US-UK invasion in 2003.

Cherif Kouachi had grown up in an orphanage in Rennes, north-west France, and had trained as a fitness coach before joining his brother in Paris, Liberation newspaper reports. In Paris he worked as a pizza delivery man.

Police detained him in 2005 just as he was about to board a plane for Syria – at the time the gateway for jihadists hoping to fight US troops in Iraq.

In 2008, Cherif Kouachi was jailed for three years, but 18 months of the sentence was suspended, Liberation reports.

Koauchi brothers had allegedly frequented a mosque in the Stalingrad district of Paris, where they came under the influence of a radical imam called Farid Benyettou.

Farid Benyettou reportedly encouraged Said and Cherif Kouachi to study Islam at his home and at a Muslim centre in their neighborhood.

A key figure in the Buttes-Chaumont network was Boubaker al-Hakim, a militant linked to al-Qaeda resistance to US forces in Iraq, a French expert on Islamists says.

Jean-Pierre Filiu, an expert at Sciences-Po University in Paris, says a French court jailed Boubaker al-Hakim for seven years in 2008, at the same time as Cherif Kouachi, along with Farid Benyettou, who got six years. That action broke up the jihadist network they had created.

The experts says in ablog article that Boubaker al-Hakim had recruited militants to fight in Falluja, an Iraqi city that became an al-Qaeda stronghold in 2004.

Boubaker al-Hakim is also wanted in Tunisia over the murder of two Tunisian left-wing opposition politicians in 2013 – Chokri Belaid and Mohamed Brahmi. Hakim claimed the murder in the name of the so-called Islamic State group, Jean-Pierre Filiu says.

In 2010 Cherif Kouachi was named in connection with a plot to spring another Islamist, Smain Ait Ali Belkacem, from jail.

Ait Ali Belkacem used to be in the outlawed Algerian Islamic Armed Group (GIA) and was jailed for life in 2002 for a Paris metro station bombing in 1995 which injured 30 people.

Said Kouachi, 34, was also named in the Belkacem plot, but the brothers were not prosecuted, for lack evidence.

Said Kouachi’s ID card was found in the brothers’ getaway car which they abandoned after the shooting, AFP news agency reports, citing police sources.

Cherif and Said Kouachi had been spotted on Thursday, January 8, in a car on a road in the Aisne region of northern France, sources close to the investigation told AFP.

The two brothers are suspected of killing 12 people at the Paris office of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo on January 7.

Cherif and Said Kouachi were reportedly recognized by the manager of a service station near the town of Villers-Cotteret, and still armed.

Arrest warrants were issued for Cherif and Said Kouachi, said to be “armed and dangerous”.Charlie Hebdo suspects Cherif and Said Kouachi

A third suspect, 18-year-old Hamyd Mourad handed himself in to police in Charleville-Mezieres. He reportedly surrendered after hearing his name on the news.

Cherif Kouachi, 32, was sentenced in 2008 to three years in prison for belonging to a Paris-based group sending jihadist fighters to Iraq.

Overnight, seven people believed to be connected to the two main suspects in the Charlie Hebdo attack were detained in the towns of Reims and Charleville-Mezieres, as well as in the Paris area.

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Two more police officers have been shot in Paris near Porte de Chatillon as a gunman fled to the subway.

Police are still hunting for a gunman on the loose.

The man opened fire with a machine gun, leaving two officers injured in the Porte de Chatillon area in the south of the city, French media report.

The incident happened just after 8AM near a subway station.

It happened at the start of the morning rush hour, with an M5 assault rifle believed to have been used.

Witnesses saw what appeared to a collision between two cars, followed by two men appearing with the weapon.

William Thomas, a 19-year-old who lives close to this morning’s attack, said: “I was woken up by the first three shots.

“Then I heard someone shout ‘Take that’ and there were another two shots. It was before 8AM.”Chatillon shooting, second Paris shooting

The automatic gunfire was followed by the arrival of numerous special operations police, accompanied by emergency services.

A man who appeared to be of North African origin was seen running away from the scene. He was thought to be wearing a bullet proof vest.

The second suspect drove away in white Renault Clio. One of the men was arrested, said a local police spokesman. He was described as a 53-year-old.

Those wounded were a woman traffic officer from Montrouge, and a male colleague.

“Emergency workers tried to revive the woman officer at the scene but she was in a very bad way,” said another officer at the scene.

Both wounded officers were described by a police source as being in a “very serious condition”.

French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve was at the scene and talked to the media.

He called on everyone to “keep calm” despite two critically injured victims.

He confirmed a shooter did escape the scene.

The man is 53-years-old and was wearing a bulletproof vest, and had a handgun and a machine gun, sources suggest.

“Around 8:09 he shot towards the police officers who were at the scene for a road incident,” said Bernard Cazeneuve.

“The police woman – who is in very critical condition – was shot in the back.”

Reports in France suggest there is currently nothing to link the Chatillon shooting to yesterday’s massacre at the office of Charlie Hebdo magazine.

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Thousands of people have gathered at the Place de la Republique in central Paris for a vigil after a deadly attack on French magazine Charlie Hebdo.

Many held up placards saying “Je suis Charlie” (I am Charlie), referring to a hashtag that is trending on Twitter in solidarity with the victims.

Piles of pens – symbolizing freedom of expression – and candles have been laid across the square.

Tens of thousands of people have also joined rallies in other cities across France.

A major manhunt has been launched in Paris for three gunmen who shot dead 12 people at the office of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo.Charlie Hebdo attack Je suis Charlie

Eight journalists, including the magazine’s editor, and two policemen were among the dead.

Protests over the killings are being held in cities across France. It is the country’s deadliest attack in decades.

President Francois Hollande called it a “cowardly murder” and declared a day of national mourning on Thursday, January 8.

Charlie Hebdo‘s website, which went offline during the attack, is displaying the single image of “Je suis Charlie” on a black banner. Other major newspapers are displaying similar banners.

The latest tweet on Charlie Hebdo‘s account was a cartoon of the Islamic State militant group leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

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Charlie Hebdo satirical magazine has been attacked by at least two gunmen, who have killed 12 people at its Paris offices.

It is the worst attack on a magazine which has been hit by violence before.

In 2006, many Muslims were angered by Charlie Hebdo‘s reprinting of cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad. They had originally appeared in Danish daily Jyllands-Posten.

Charlie Hebdo‘s offices were fire-bombed in November 2011 when it published a cartoon of Muhammad under the title Charia Hebdo.

One of the latest tweets on Charlie Hebdo‘s feed was a cartoon of the ISIS militant group leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

The editor, Stephane Charbonnier, had been under police protection, having received death threats. He and three other cartoonists were among those killed by the gunmen in the massacre on January 7.

Charlie Hebdo is part of a venerable tradition in French journalism going back to the scandal sheets that denounced Marie-Antoinette in the run-up to the French Revolution.

Back in the 18th Century, the target was the royal family, and the rumor-mongers wrought havoc with tales – often illustrated – of corruption at the court at Versailles.Charlie Hebdo shooting 2015

Nowadays there are new dragons to slay: politicians, the police, bankers and religion. Satire, rather than outright fabrication, is the weapon of choice.

Same spirit of insolence that once took on the ancient regime – part ribaldry, part political self-promotion – is still very much on the scene.

Charlie Hebdo is a prime exponent. Its decision to mock the Prophet Muhammad is entirely consistent with its historic raison d’etre.

The weekly magazine has never sold in enormous numbers – and for 10 years from 1981, it ceased publication for lack of resources.

With its garish front-page cartoons and incendiary headlines, it is an unmissable staple of newspaper kiosks and railway station booksellers.

Drawing on France’s strong tradition of bandes dessinees (comic strips), cartoons and caricatures are Charlie Hebdo‘s defining feature. Over the years, it has printed examples which make its representations of Muhammad look like mild illustrations from a children’s book.

As a newspaper, Charlie Hebdo suffers from constant comparison with its better-known and more successful rival, Le Canard Enchaine.

Both are animated by the same urge to challenge the powers-that-be.

If Le Canard is all about scoops and unreported secrets, Charlie is both cruder and crueller – deploying a mix of cartoons and an often vicious polemical wit.

True to its position on the far left of French politics, Charlie Hebdo‘s past is full of splits and ideological betrayals.

One long-standing editor resigned after a row about anti-Semitism.

Most of the staff – cartoonists and writers alike – go by single-name noms de plume.

Before Wednesday’s attack the team was led by Stephane Charbonnier – known as Charb – and another cartoonist called Riss (Laurent Sourisseau). But everyone knows their real names.

The paper’s origins lie in another satirical publication called Hara-Kiri which made a name for itself in the 1960s.

In 1970, came the famous moment of Charlie Hebdo‘s creation. Two dramatic events were dominating the news: a terrible fire at a discotheque which killed more than 100 people; and the death of former President General Charles de Gaulle.

Hara-Kiri led its edition with a headline mocking the General’s death: “Bal tragique a Colombey – un mort”, meaning “Tragic dance at Colombey [de Gaulle’s home] – one dead.”

The subsequent scandal led to Hara-Kiri being banned. To which its journalists promptly responded by setting up a new weekly – Charlie Hebdo.

Charlie Hebdo was not an irreverent reference to Charles de Gaulle, but to the fact that originally it also re-printed the Charlie Brown cartoon from the United States.

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Three attackers are being hunted in France after the terror attack on the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo’s headquarter, the French interior minister says.

Twelve people have been killed, four are seriously injured. Four cartoonists, including the magazine’s editor-in-chief, are reportedly among those killed.

Paris has been placed on the highest level of alert following the attack.

President Francois Hollande called the attack on Charlie Hebdo offices an act of “extreme barbarity”.

In 2011, Charlie Hebdo came under attack after naming the Prophet Muhammad as its “editor-in-chief”.

Anne Hidalgo, the mayor of Paris, has released a statement on Facebook condemning the attack and calling for a march on January 8 through Paris’s Republic Square at 6PM local time.Charlie Hebdo attack Paris shooting

She says: “I feel a sense of absolute horror at the attack… We must respond to this act through the sacred union around the principles of the Republic.”

Meanwhile, Jyllands-Posten, the Danish newspaper that triggered protests in some Muslim countries after publishing cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad, has increased its security following today’s attack, Reuters reported.

President Barack Obama has condemned the Paris attack and what he calls “the hateful vision of these killers”.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has condemned “this cynical crime” and offered his condolences to the victims and their families.

French far right leader Marine Le Pen has said she will release a statement on today’s shootings at 4.30PM French time.

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