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PARIS: Heavily armed gunmen massacred 14 people on Wednesday after bursting into the office of a satirical weekly that had long outraged Muslims with blasphemous caricatures against Prophet Muhammad (SAW).
The cartoonist who made the blasphemous caricatures is also among those killed in the incident.The late-morning attack on the Charlie Hebdo headquarters in a quiet neighbourhood was the bloodiest in France for at least four decades.
Victims included three cartoonists and the chief editor who had been holding a morning meeting when the assailants armed with Kalashnikovs opened fire, officials said.Editor-in-chief Stephane Charbonnier, known as Charb and who had lived under police protection after receiving death threats, was among those killed in Wednesday’s attack.
Others left dead included the cartoonists known as Cabu, Tignous and Wolinski.Police said witnesses heard the attackers shout “We have avenged the prophet” and “Allahu Akbar” (God is great).
French President Francois Hollande immediately rushed to the scene of what he called “an act of exceptional barbarism.”Amateur video shot after the bloodbath showed two men masked and dressed head-to-toe in black military style outfits leaving the building, then shooting a wounded policeman in cold-blood as he lay on the pavement.
The gunmen, who appeared to be calm, returned to a black Citroen and drove off.A large number of police and ambulances rushed to the scene, where shocked residents spilled into the streets. Reporters saw bullet-riddled windows and people being carried out on stretchers.
The gunmen remained at large till early evening and there was no claim of responsibility. The interior minister said three assailants took part in the attack. Two policemen were confirmed among the dead and four people were critically injured.
The French capital was immediately placed under the highest alert status.The attack took place at a time of heightened fear in France and other European capitals over the fallout from the wars in Iraq and Syria, where hundreds of European citizens had gone to fight alongside the radical Islamic State group.
In a sign of such tension, a media group’s office in Madrid was evacuated later in the day after a suspicious package was sent there.President Hollande has called for “national unity”, adding that “several terrorist attacks had been foiled in recent weeks”.
US President Barack Obama condemned the attack and pledged assistance, while British Prime Minister David Cameron called it “sickening.”Obama called it a terrorist attack against its ally, France. “We are in touch with French officials and I have directed my administration to provide any assistance needed to help bring these terrorists to justice,” Obama said in a statement.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the attack was “despicable” and Russian President Vladimir Putin condemned the violence along with the Arab League.
The Vatican has also condemned as “abominable” the shooting. “It is a double act of violence and abominable because it is an attack against people as well as against freedom of the press,” said the Vatican’s deputy spokesman, Father Ciro Benedettini. He added that Pope Francis would likely issue a personal condemnation later on Wednesday by sending a message to the archbishop of Paris.
The Arab League and Al-Azhar, Islam’s most prestigious centre of learning, both condemned the deadly attack.
“Arab League chief Nabil al-Arabi strongly condemned the terrorist attack on Charlie Hebdo newspaper in Paris,” the League said after the attack.
Al-Azhar condemnation said, “Islam denounces any violence”, in remarks carried by Egypt’s state news agency MENA.
In a separate statement, Al-Azhar senior official Abbas Shoman said the institution “does not approve of using violence even if it is in response to an offence committed against sacred Muslim sentiments.”
Moreover, the French Muslim Council said in a statement, “This extremely grave barbaric action is also an attack on democracy and freedom of press.”
Its President Dalil Boubakeur, who heads the Paris Mosque, planned to visit scene of the shooting, his entourage said.
The Muslim council also called for calm and urged Muslims to beware of extremist manipulation.
The satirical newspaper gained notoriety in February 2006 when it reprinted blasphemous cartoons 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 blasphemous cartoon.
Despite being taken to the court under anti-racism laws, the weekly continued to publish blasphemous cartoons hurting feelings of the Muslims.
The paper’s last tweet on Wednesday morning before the attack included a cartoon of Islamic State group leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and Happy New Year wishes.
This week’s front page featured controversial author French Michel Houellebecq, whose latest book “Soumission”, or “Submission,” which imagines a France in the near future that is ruled by an Islamic government, came out Wednesday.
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