Masked gunmen stormed the Paris office of a satirical newspaper, Charlie Hebdo, killing 12 people before escaping. It is one of the deadliest terror attacks in at least two decades in France. Sources confirmed that at least 40 people had been rescued from the building. The magazines’s editor and cartoonist Stephane Charbonnier was also among those killed in the attack.
French President Francois Hollande said the attack on the Charlie Hebdo, which has frequently drawn condemnation from Muslims, is “a terrorist attack, without a doubt,” and said several other attacks have been embittered in France in recent weeks.
The extremist Islamic State group has threatened to attack France and minutes before the attack Charlie Hebdo had tweeted a satirical cartoon of the 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 office was also firebombed in 2011 causing it to move to a new location with police protection.
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.