At least 12 people were killed in a shooting at the Paris offices of Charlie Hebdo, a satirical newspaper firebombed in the past after publishing cartoons joking about Muslim leaders, French TV channel iTELE reported.
France Info radio also said police had confirmed 10 injured. Police informed Reuters that of the 10 wounded, five were injured critically.
President Francois Hollande rushed to the scene of the attack and the government said it was raising France’s security level to the highest notch.
“This is a terrorist attack, there is no doubt about it,” Hollande told reporters. British Prime Minister David Cameron described the attack as sickening.
The United States said it condemned the attack in the “strongest possible terms.”
“Senior officials at the White House have been in close touch with their counterparts in France this morning,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest said.
“The United States stand ready to work closely with the French” to help them probe the attack,” he said.
The Telegraph quoted a broadcast journalist with Europe1 News as saying, “Several men in black cagoules were heard to shout ‘the Prophet has been avenged’.”
In the distance we can see at least two people who appear to be fleeing.
“About a half an hour ago two black-hooded men entered the building with Kalashnikovs (guns),” Benoit Bringer told the station. “A few minutes later we heard lots of shots,” he said, adding that the men were then seen fleeing the building.
A firebomb attack gutted the headquarters of Charlie Hebdo in November 2011 after it put an image of the Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) on its cover
