Paris (CNN) A French satirical magazine’s office turned into a horror show Wednesday when three attackers burst in and began firing, killing at least 12 before heading off onto the streets of Paris.
While it wasn’t immediately clear who was behind the attack, French officials viewed it as a clear act of terrorism. And there were real fears things could get even worse, with the assailants still on the loose.
“We need to find the actors of this terrorist act,” French President Francois Hollande said. “They must be arrested and brought before judges and condemned as quickly as possible. France is shocked today.”
[Latest update at 9:53 a.m. ET]
• French Prime Minister Manuel Valls raised the country’s security to its highest level — “attack alert” — after the Charlie Hebdo bloodshed. That means there will be reinforced security at media company offices, major stores, religious centers and on public transport, Valls’ office said in a statement.
All available forces have been mobilized, with civil and military reinforcements as part of this plan. In addition, regional authorities have been instructed to step up their vigilance.
• Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said that all means are being used to “ensure as quickly as possible we can identify the (three attackers) and (arrest them), so that they can be punished with the severity that their barbarous acts are worthy of.”
• In addition to the 12 dead, eight people were wounded, including four in critical condition, Cazeneuve, said.
CAUTION: This video contains graphic images
• Hollande said that “we have to … show we are a united country, we know how to react appropriately, with firmness, but always with concern for national unity.”
“We knew that we were threatened like other countries in the world,” the President said. “We are threatened because we are a country of freedom.”
Gunmen face police officers near the offices of French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in Paris on Wednesday, January 7. At least 12 people were killed in an attack at the magazine, which had spurred protests in the past over caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed. Its offices were set afire in November 2011.
Meilleurs vœux, au fait. pic.twitter.com/a2JOhqJZJM
— Charlie Hebdo (@Charlie_Hebdo_) January 7, 2015
These developments come after heavily armed men entered the Charlie Hebdo office in Paris’ 11th district, close to Place de la Bastille, and opened fire, SPG police union spokesman Luc Poignant told CNN affiliate BFMTV.
A witness who works in the office opposite the magazine’s told BFMTV that he saw two hooded men, dressed in black, enter the building with Kalashnikov submachine guns.
“We then heard them open fire inside, with many shots,” he told the channel. “We were all evacuated to the roof. After several minutes, the men fled, after having continued firing in the middle of the street.”
Witnesses also spoke of seeing a rocket launcher, according to French media reports.
A video taken by a journalist for the Premieres Lignes agency shows the gunmen shouting “God is great!” as they began the attack, Le Monde reported. They also cried “We have avenged the Prophet!”
Four of the newspaper’s best-known cartoonists were killed in the attack, according to a law enforcement source quoted in Le Monde newspaper: Charb, Cabu, Wolinski and Tignous. Charb was also the director of Charlie Hebdo.
Two police officers were also among the dead, the law enforcement source said, according to Le Monde.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility.
The French government raised the country’s security alert system to its highest level Wednesday after the attack, according to French media.
The satirical magazine is no stranger to controversy for having lampooned a variety of subjects, including Christianity. But what it’s done on Islam has gotten the most attention and garnered the most vitriol.
Its last tweet before Wednesday’s attack featured a cartoon of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and the words, “And, above all, health.”
Earlier cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammed — depictions that are deplored by Muslims — spurred protests and the burning of the magazine’s office three years ago.
In November 2011, Charlie Hebdo’s office caught fire the day it was due to publish a cover making fun of Islamic law.
The latest attack spurred Hollande, the French President, to tweet his support for media everywhere.
Aucun acte barbare ne saura jamais éteindre la liberté de la presse. Nous sommes un pays unis qui saura réagir et faire bloc.
— François Hollande (@fhollande) January 7, 2015
“No barbarous act will ever extinguish freedom of the press,” he said. “We are a united country.”
Support for Charlie Hebdo was also evident on social media, where a trend emerged of people tweeting past covers from the magazine as well as the words “Je suis Charlie,” or “I am Charlie.”
The bloodshed rattled not only France, but much of the world.
European Commission Vice President Frans Timmermans expressed solidarity with France, calling the incident “an attack on all of us, on our fundamental values, on the freedoms our #EU societies are built upon.”
So, too, did Jens Stoltenberg — the secretary general of NATO, of which France is a member, who blasted what he called “a barbaric act and an outrageous attack on press freedom.” And British Prime Minister David Cameron took to Twitter to call “the murders in Paris … sickening.”
U.S. President Barack Obama similarly condemned the attack, saying he’s directed his government “to provide any assistance needed to help bring these terrorists to justice” in support of “America’s oldest ally.”
“Time and again, the French people have stood up for the universal values that generations of our people have defended,” Obama said. “France, and the great city of Paris where this outrageous attack took place, offer the world a timeless example that will endure well beyond the hateful vision of these killers.”
Copyright 2015 by CNN. All Rights Reserved. (PHOTO: AP)
