Gunmen stormed the Paris offices of the satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo, killing 12 and injuring another seven in what early reports indicate was an Islamist terrorist attack. Witnesses who spoke to the BBC say that the attackers, who were hoods and carried Kalashnikov assault rifles, shouted “we have avenged the Prophet Muhammad.” French President Francois Hollande called the incident a terrorist attack "of exceptional barbarity.”
The attackers remain at large, and police in Paris are carrying out a major operation to apprehend them. The French cabinet was set to meet for an emergency meeting in the afternoon. Two police officers were reported killed in the attack. Among those reported killed on the magazine’s staff are four cartoonists and Charlie Hebdo’s editor in chief, Stephane Charbonnier.
The magazine has a history of satirizing Islam, and its offices were firebombed in 2011 after it published a cartoon featuring Prophet Muhammad promising “100 lashes if you don’t die laughing!”
