Gunmen attack Paris magazine Charlie Hebdo's offices killing at least twelve | World news | The GuardianGunmen attack Paris magazine Charlie Hebdo's offices killing at least twelve | World news | The Guardian










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Charlie Hebdo attack



Gunmen attack Paris magazine Charlie Hebdo's offices killing at least twelve









At least 12 dead after three gunmen walk into building in Paris and open fire before fleeing in a getaway car 

Live updates: gunmen attack French magazine Charlie Hebdo 
Analysis: magazine’s long record of commitment to its satire

























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Amateur footage of attack on Charlie Hebdo office



Kim Willsher in Paris


Wednesday 7 January 2015 15.20 EST







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At least 12 people are dead after three hooded gunmen armed with Kalashnikovs attacked the headquarters of a French satirical magazine and opened fire on journalists and police guards.
The three men - described by a police union spokesman as “commandos” – are on the run after walking into the offices of Charlie Hebdo in Paris’s 11th arrondissement at about midday on Wednesday and fleeing in a getaway car driven by a fourth.
The death toll includes 10 journalists and two police officers. At least five people are seriously injured.



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A policeman walks near the site of the attack
Photograph: Etienne Laurent/EPA


Rocco Contento, a spokesman for the Unité police union, said “it was a real butchery” in the building. He said the Charlie Hebdo offices were guarded and protection was increased in recent weeks because of fresh threats against the magazine, but the attackers had entered the building intending to kill.
Charlie Hebdo’s offices were firebombed in 2011 after a spoof issue featuring a caricature of the prophet Mohammed on its cover.


— Kim Willsher (@kimwillsher1)
January 7, 2015
Police spokes. "It was a commando with Kalasnikov and pump action ...they went in there to kill".





— Kim Willsher (@kimwillsher1)
January 7, 2015
Police say there had been specific threats against Charlie Hebdo and other media recently.



Contento said the attackers had got into a getaway car driven by a fourth man on fleeing the building, and drove to Porte de Pantin in north-east Paris, where they abandoned the first car and hijacked a second – turning the driver out into the road.



The French president, François Hollande, headed to the scene of the attack and the government said it was raising the security level to the highest level. “This is a terrorist attack, there is no doubt about it,” he told reporters. Newspaper offices, shopping centres, museums and stations have been placed under police protection.



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President Hollande speaks to the press after arriving at the offices of Charlie Hebdo.
Photograph: Kenzo Tribouillard/AFP/Getty Images


Witnesses working in the building opposite heard shots as the attack began and saw a police officer “between life and death” lying on the road outside.
Streets were closed off around the building in the aftermath of the shooting and a few hundred metres away on the Boulevard Richard-Lenoir a police car’s windscreen was riddled with bullet holes.
In 2008, Charlie Hebdo was criticised for running Danish cartoons caricaturing the Prophet Mohammed. The magazine defended the publication in the name of freedom of expression.



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more on this story














Cherif Kouachi during 2008 terror trial: 'I've been set up' - video

File footage of one of the Paris gunmen, Cherif Kouachi, arriving at court in 2008 on charges of helping to funnel fighters to Iraq's insurgency



Published: 13 Jan 2015




Cherif Kouachi during 2008 terror trial: 'I've been set up' - video












Analysis Charlie Hebdo attackers: born, raised and radicalised in Paris

The radicalisation of the Kouachi brothers began in a picturesque park in the capital while Amédy Coulibaly took the first steps towards terrorism in prison, but what the three had in common was growing up on the margins of French society



Published: 12 Jan 2015




Charlie Hebdo attackers: born, raised and radicalised in Paris












Paris shootings: investigation launched into where gunmen got GoPro cameras

Officials try to pinpoint when and where cameras found in possession of Kouachi brothers and Amédy Coulibaly were obtained



Published: 12 Jan 2015




Paris shootings: investigation launched into where gunmen got GoPro cameras












Paris attacks: 10,000 troops deployed as France hunts for accomplices

Mobilisation of 10,000 troops to guard potentially vulnerable locations comes as prime minister warns that ‘threat still present’



Published: 12 Jan 2015




Paris attacks: 10,000 troops deployed as France hunts for accomplices














Paris shootings: Jewish school ‘likely target’ of gunman Coulibaly




Published: 12 Jan 2015




Paris shootings: Jewish school ‘likely target’ of gunman Coulibaly








Analysis Mentor of Charlie Hebdo gunmen has been UK-based




Published: 11 Jan 2015




Mentor of Charlie Hebdo gunmen has been UK-based








Paris gunman Amedy Coulibaly declared allegiance to Isis




Published: 11 Jan 2015




Paris gunman Amedy Coulibaly declared allegiance to Isis








Charlie Hebdo: a letter to my British friends

Olivier Tonneau




Published: 13 Jan 2015




Charlie Hebdo: a letter to my British friends
















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