UPDATE: 12 dead in Paris shooting at office of satirical paper that often mocks Islam and other faiths

UPDATE: Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean posted his comments on the Paris terror attack on Facebook last night.

 

 

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UPDATE (11AM): The youngest of three suspects behind the shootings at satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo headquarters has surrendered to French police, reports AFP.

The police have also released photos of two other suspects, Cherif Kouachi, 32, and his 34-year-old brother Said, who are still on the run.

Police said they were likely to be "armed and dangerous".

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Hooded gunmen stormed the Paris office of a weekly satirical newspaper known for lampooning radical Islam, killing at least 12 people, including two police officers.

One of the men was captured on video shouting “Allah!” as four shots rang out.

Two assailants were then seen calmly leaving the scene.

 

 

Ten Charlie Hebdo staff died in the attack, prosecutors said. 

Sources at the weekly said the dead included co-founder Jean “Cabu” Cabut and editor-in-chief Stephane “Charb” Charbonnier.

 

 

A police official said the gunmen fled towards the eastern Paris suburbs after holding up a car. A police union official said there are fears of further attacks.

Wednesday's incident is the worst militant attack on French soil in recent decades.

A short amateur video broadcast by French television stations showed two hooded men outside the building of French weekly Charlie Hebdo (Charlie Weekly).

One of them sees a wounded policeman lying on the ground and strides over to him to shoot him dead at point-blank range.

The two then walk over to a black saloon car and drive off.

 

 

In another clip on Television station iTELE, they are heard shouting: “We have killed Charlie Hebdo. We have avenged the Prophet Mohammad.”

President Francois Hollande called the massacre "an act of indescribable barbarity".

He said on Twitter: "No barbaric act will never extinguish the freedom of the press."

 

 

French weekly Charlie Hebdo (Charlie Weekly) is well-known for courting controversy - with satirical attacks on political and religious leaders.

It has published numerous cartoons ridiculing the Prophet Mohammad.

A firebomb attack gutted the headquarters of Charlie Hebdo in November 2011, after the publication put an image of the Prophet Mohammad on its cover.

France’s Muslim leadership sharply condemned the shooting as a “barbaric” attack and an assault on press freedom and democracy.

"This extremely grave barbaric action is also an attack against democracy and the freedom of the press," the French Muslim Council said in a statement.

The body represents France’s Muslim community, which is Europe’s biggest and estimated to number between 3.5 million and five million people.

People have taken to using the hashtag #JeSuisCharlie to show solidarity with the victims of the attack.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The US Embassy in France has also changed its Twitter display photo to reflect the hashtag.

 

 

Sources: Reuters, AFP

Related report: Support for French newspaper pour in online after fatal shootings kill 12