At least 12 people have been killed after gunmen opened fire in the headquarters of the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo in central Paris. Police have launch a nationwide manhunt for three suspects. As at 01:02 GMT Police had arrested one man following a raid in the northern commune of Charleville Mézières, local channel iTele reports.
#BREAKING: Youngest of three suspects in Paris attack surrenders to police, sources say
— Agence France-Presse (@AFP) January 8, 2015
French security forces launched a major manhunt in the capital after the gunmen fled the scene of the attack, The Guardian reported. Police are searching for two brothers from the Paris region and another man from the northern French city of Reims in connection with the attack, a police source told Reuters.
The attackers stormed Charlie Hebdo’s Paris newsroom during an editorial meeting and began firing indiscriminately, police and prosecutors said. Witnesses told police that the gunmen shouted “we have avenged the prophet,” according to Agence France-Presse. Charlie Hebdo cartoonist Corinne Rey said the gunmen spoke to her in fluent French and claimed to represent al Qaeda. The gunmen called out some of the victims’ names, she told Reuters.
A video, apparently filmed by an onlooker outside the office, shows two gunmen dressed in black, firing automatic weapons down the street and shouting “Allahu Akbar.” Police official Luc Poignant told the Associated Press the gunmen left in a waiting car and later switched to a stolen vehicle.
Charlie Hebdo has been the target of violence in the past over its work. In 2011, its offices were firebombed after it carried a caricature of Prophet Muhammad on its cover. When the newspaper published more provocative cartoons of Prophet Muhammad a year later, it sparked violent protests across the Muslim world.
Minutes before Wednesday’s attack, Charlie Hebdo tweeted a satirical cartoon of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of the Islamic State group.
В Реймсе проходит операция по задержанию подозреваемых в теракте #CharlieHebdo pic.twitter.com/mlkG2krRsR
— Xenia Fedorova (@xfedorova) January 7, 2015
