Terrorist Attack French Satirical Magazine

PARIS — Authorities identified three suspects in a deadly shooting attack on a French satirical newspaper that killed 12 people Wednesday as thousands jammed a public square for an evening vigil in support for the victims.
French police officials said they identified three men as suspects in a deadly attack. Two officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, named the suspects as Frenchmen Said Kouachi and Cherif Kouachi, in their early 30s, and Hamyd Mourad, 18, whose nationality wasn't immediately clear. One of the officials said they were linked to a Yemeni terrorist network.
At least 15,000 gathered at the Place de la République for a vigil after the three gunmen, wearing hoods and armed with Kalashnikov automatic rifles, stormed the offices of Charlie Hebdo shouting Islamic phrases and killing 12 people. The publication is a satirical newspaper that has caricatured the prophet Mohammed in the past.
"They wanted to put France down on its knees but we will show them solidarity and unity," Ilan Scialom, 30, vice president of "COEXISTER," an interfaith group in Paris that promotes tolerance, said at the Paris rally. Thousands turned out for similar vigils in Lyon and elsewhere across Europe. Some held signs saying, "Not afraid."
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the midday attack, the deadliest on French soil in more than 50 years.
In a brief televised address, French President Francois Hollande called for a day of mourning Thursday, saying "nothing can divide us, nothing can separate us."
"We will win. Nothing will make us renounce our determination," he said. "Long live the republic. Long live France."
The rampage began around noon when the suspects killed a receptionist to gain entrance to the offices in central Paris, then opened fire on a second-floor editorial meeting, killing 10 people, including eight journalists, prosecutor Francois Molins told reporters. A police officer was killed during the suspects' getaway.
Eleven others others were injured, including four who were listed in serious condition.
President Francois Hollande called it a terrorist act "of exceptional barbarism," and said that other attacks have been thwarted in France in recent weeks. Fears have been running high in France and elsewhere in Europe that jihadis returning from conflicts in Syria and Iraq will stage attacks at home.
In a sober address to the nation Wednesday night, Hollande pledged to hunt down the killers, and pleaded with his compatriots to come together in a time of insecurity and suspicion.

Molins said the attackers shouted "Allahu Akbar" ("God is great") and the "prophet is avenged" before fleeing in a stolen black Citroen, exchanging gunfire at least twice with police outside.
Cartoonist Corine Rey, also known as "Coco," told the weekly Humanité that she was forced at gunpoint to allow the men inside the building.
"They shot (cartoonists) Wolinski, Cabu … it lasted about five minutes," she told the newspaper, according to France24. "I took cover under a desk … they spoke perfect French … they said they were al-Qaeda."

Stephane Charbonnier.(Photo: Michel Euler, AP)

The dead included Stephane Charbonnier, the weekly newspaper's editorial director known as Charb, spokeswoman Agnes Thibault-Lecuivre of the Paris prosecutor's office confirmed. Charb's bodyguard — assigned to him after previous death threats — was among those killed, said Christophe Crepin, a police union spokesman. Four cartoonists whose work included controversial drawings of the prophet Mohammed were also killed.
In response to the death threats, Charb, according to France24, told colleagues at one point, "I am not afraid of retaliation. I have no kids, no wife, no car, no credit. It perhaps sounds a bit pompous, but I prefer to die standing than living on my knees."

Demonstrators in Marseille, France, hold a banner that reads, "I am Charlie" during a demonstration against a terrorist attack at the Paris office of the "Charlie Hebdo" newspaper on Jan. 7.Twelve people were killed when gunmen attacked the publication that had often outraged Muslims with controversial cartoons of the prophet Mohammed. (Photo: Claude Paris, AP)

One police officer was shot execution-style on a sidewalk. The gunman, in a chilling video taken from a second-floor balcony, opened fire on a police officer, who collapsed. One of the gunmen then calmly walked up the officer and killed him, before returning to the getaway car with his fellow assailant.

Armed gunmen face police officers near the offices of the French satirical newspaper "Charlie Hebdo" in Paris on Wednesday.(Photo: Anne Gelbard, AFP/Getty Images)

The newspaper's editor, Gerard Biard, escaped the attack because he was in London.
"I am shocked that people can have attacked a newspaper in France, a secular republic," he told France Inter: "I don't understand it."
Only hours before the attack, the newspaper published a new cartoon on Twitter that appears to show Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. The militant group has captured large parts of Iraq and Syria.
The publication, whose barbs are aimed at a wide range of religious and political institutions, has been heavily criticized by Muslims for years. In 2011 its offices were firebombed after a spoof issue featured a caricature of the prophet on its cover.