Police put Paris shooting death toll at 12, including two police officers

PARIS: At least 12 people, including two police officers, were killed when gunmen armed with Kalashnikovs and a rocket-launcher opened fire in the offices of French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo on Wednesday, Paris prosecutors said.
French President Francois Hollande described the attack as without doubt a terrorist attack. Deputy Mayor of Paris Bruno Julliard earlier said “six people are seriously injured”, including a policeman. It was not clear whether these now figured among the dead. A source close to the investigation said two men “armed with a Kalashnikov and a rocket-launcher” stormed the building in central Paris and “fire was exchanged with security forces.” The source said gunmen had hijacked a car and knocked over a pedestrian as he sped away. The publication’s cartoonist Renaud Luzier earlier told AFP there were “casualties” after the incident.
The satirical magazine gained notoriety in February 2006 when it reprinted cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) that had originally appeared in Danish daily Jyllands-Posten, causing fury across the Muslim world. Its offices were fire-bombed in November 2011 when it published a cartoon of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) and under the title “Charia Hebdo”. Despite being taken to court under anti-racism laws, the magazine continued to publish controversial cartoons of the Muslim prophet. In September 2012 Charlie Hebdo published cartoons of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) as violent protests were taking place in several countries over a low-budget film, titled “Innocence of Muslims”, which was made in the United States and insulted the prophet. French schools, consulates and cultural centres in 20 Muslim countries were briefly closed along with embassies for fear of retaliatory attacks.
Editor Stephane Charbonnier has received death threats and lives under police protection. Worldwide condemnations pour in British Prime Minister David Cameron on Wednesday condemned an attack on the Paris offices of the satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo as “sickening” and said Britain stood with France in the fight against terror. “The murders in Paris are sickening. We stand with the French people in the fight against terror and defending the freedom of the press,” Cameron said in a statement on his official Twitter feed.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel condemned a deadly shooting by black-hooded gunmen at a newspaper’s office in Paris on Wednesday, calling it an attack on freedom of speech and the press “This abominable act is not only an attack on the lives of French citizens and their security,” Merkel said in a statement. “It is also an attack on freedom of speech and the press, core elements of our free democratic culture. In no way can this be justified.” In a separate statement, Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel called the attack an “unbelievably brutal crime”.