Massacre in Paris: Great hunt for attackers in Reims

The public prosecutor added that the attackers shouted "Allahu Akbar" and "This is revenge for the prophet".
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Ažurirano: 08.01.2015. 01:13h

Three suspects for the murder of 12 people in the editorial office of the magazine "Charlie Hebdo" have been identified, and the France Presse agency states that an arrest operation is underway in Reims.

American television NBC reported that one attacker was killed and that two were arrested.

The police suspect that the two attackers are of French-Algerian origin, aged 32 and 34, and they came to France from Syria last summer. The third suspect was allegedly born in 1993. The two attackers are allegedly brothers.

Their names are reportedly Said Kouachi (34) and Sherif Kouachi (32), they have French citizenship, while the nationality of the third, youngest attacker, who is identified as Hamid Murad (18), is unknown.

One of the US officials told AP that the three attackers were connected to the Yemeni terrorist network.

Sheriff Kuachi was sentenced to 2008 months in 18 for aiding Iraqi insurgents.

On the other hand, the French media reports that the city of Reims is full of policemen, as well as that police snipers have been spotted in some places.

In addition, dozens of traffic policemen are preventing people from entering the city, where special forces are preparing to arrest the most wanted people in France, according to the British "Mirror".

"The Guardian" indicates that the situation is unclear as to the nature and significance of the police action in Reims. French television showed footage of anti-terrorist units surrounding an apartment in the city, and some police officers were seen leaving the apartment block.

As the "Guardian" correspondent from Paris reports, "there is talk that one attacker was killed in a police operation", but there is no official confirmation whether anyone was killed or arrested.

Previously, the spokesperson of the French police told "The Guardian" that the authorities arrested three suspects for today's bloody attack on the editorial office of the satirical weekly "Charlie Hebdo" in Paris, during which 12 people were killed, including 10 journalists and two policemen.

The "Guardian", however, indicates that the Minister of the Interior, Bernard Kaznev, made an announcement to the media relatively recently, but did not mention the arrests.

French officials have issued contradictory statements on the matter, and at this time it is not possible to confirm whether the suspects have actually been arrested.

Most current reports, however, do not indicate that an arrest has taken place, the Guardian concludes.

According to the French agency, one of the members of the anti-terrorist unit said that there are two possibilities, either that the suspects escape or that there is an armed confrontation, with a note to the journalists who are on the spot to be careful.

The French Le Monde announced on Twitter that it has police confirmation that the identities of the three attackers who attacked the editorial office of the French weekly "Charlie Hebdo" in which 12 people were killed have been revealed.

The armed men who broke into the newspaper's editorial office today had a clear intention to kill the editor-in-chief Stefan Šarb, according to the information given to the French media by police sources.

An anonymous source from the police told the French "Liberation" that three armed men broke into the newsroom. According to the source, one was clearly the leader, while the other two were described as "calm and determined."

Stefan Šarb

At the time of their intrusion, a collegium was in progress in the newsroom, and the three attackers headed in that direction without hesitation. It was obvious that they knew in advance who they were looking for, the source said.

"They were targeting Šarb", the source from the police pointed out and added that the attackers, entering the premises of the newspaper, shouted: "Where is Šarb? Where is Šarb?"

The attacker targets the injured policeman

Prosecutor Francois Molin said police were looking for three suspects in the attack.

He said that the attackers first killed one person in the corridor of the newsroom.

"Then they went up to the second floor, where the collegium was held. "We believe that the attackers knew the time and place of the meeting and opened fire with Kalashnikovs," Molen said. The public prosecutor added that the attackers shouted "Allahu Akbar" and "This is revenge for the prophet", and then fled in a black Citroen, wounding at least one police officer in the exchange of fire. "Soon after, they stole a Renault Clio and fled. 12 people were killed, 11 were wounded, and four are in critical condition. Eight of those killed were journalists, and two were policemen. "The autopsy findings of those killed should be finished on Thursday," Molen concluded.

Al Qaeda members?

The terrorists also shouted that they were members of the Yemeni branch of Al Qaeda before they attacked the newsroom, reports the British "Telegraph".

Real estate agent Cedric La Beche (33) was one of the witnesses of the attack and said that the terrorists arrived in a black car that was stopped on the street. One of them was carrying a grenade, and they were all dressed in black camouflage uniforms.

La Beche added that before the attack, thugs approached a man and told him: "Tell the media that this is Al Qaeda from Yemen."

The police arrived at the attacked newsroom five minutes after the start of the shooting, and the attackers drove away from the scene in a Renault Klio.

Among the 10 murdered employees of the paper, in addition to Šarb, there are at least three cartoonists. AFP published the names of the murdered cartoonists, Jean Cabu, Bernard Verlac and Georges Volinsky. Two police officers were also among those killed.

Many sources report that the French economist and writer Bernard Maris is among those killed in today's shooting.

French President Francois Hollande said in a short speech that "nothing can divide us".

"We will win. Nothing will affect our determination. Long live the republic, long live France," Hollande said and declared Thursday a Day of Mourning in memory of those killed.

Francois Hollande

In France, the alert level has been raised to the highest level, and all institutions of public importance are under a special type of protection. As the B92 reporter from Paris reports, a kind of state of emergency is in effect in France, and politicians and religious leaders are moderate in their statements.

In front of the French Embassy in Copenhagen

French Interior Minister Bernard Katenov told reporters that the authorities are looking for three attackers.

Police spokesman Emanuel Kemener announced that the police have descriptions of the attackers.

"Our colleagues are in contact with people who were present at the time of the event. These people will be questioned, including a group of three hooded suspects with heavy weapons. Unfortunately, they ran into colleagues in police vehicles, on whom they opened fire. The colleagues retaliated. Despite everything, the suspects managed to escape, and the search for them is still active."

A protest is underway in Paris's Place de la République, and those gathered are carrying pencils.

Journalists of the France Presse agency honored their murdered colleagues with a minute of silence in their newsroom in Paris.

They were holding posters with the message "I am Charlie".

List site is back in operation after it "fell" right after the attack on the newsroom.

Currently, the site only displays a photo with the message "I'm Charlie" ("Je Suis Charlie"), which is popular on social networks.

Most French daily websites, including Liberation, Le Monde, and Le Figaro, have blacked out their front-page banners in solidarity with their Charlie Hebdo colleagues.

Human Rights Watch announced today that nothing can justify such an attack and that those who organized and committed such a crime should be brought to justice. "France should protect freedom of expression."

Hasan Çalgumi, an imam from the Paris suburb of Drancy, visited the scene of the attack.

He condemned the attackers and said: "Their prophet is Satan. There is no connection between the Islamic faith and this minority," said the imam.

US President Barack Obama condemned the attack on the Paris paper and, as he said, "the visions of the killers that are full of hate."

Russian President Vladimir Putin also condemned this "cynical crime" and expressed his condolences to the families of the victims.

Shot from the roof of a nearby building:

French journalist Soren Silo announced on Twitter that citizens are spontaneously gathering at Republic Square because of the attack on "Charlie Hebdo".

The National Union of Journalists announced: "Journalists are being killed in such a way that the entire profession feels fear."

US Secretary John Kerry also provided support in the fight against extremism.

"Free expression and a free press are fundamental values. They are universal principles that can be attacked but never eradicated. Today's murders are part of a great confrontation... between civilization itself and those who are the opposite of the civilized world."

The latest tweet from Charlie Hebdo's official Twitter account is a caricature of Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, with the words: "All the best, by the way. And to you too, al-Baghdadi," while he replies: "Especially health."

It is not known at this time whether this tweet is related to the attack that allegedly began at the time the tweet was posted.

The Arab League and Al Azhar, Egypt's most prestigious Islamic learning center, also condemned the attack on the Paris paper's editorial office in statements.

Al-Azhar called the attack "criminal", adding that "Islam condemns any violence".

The police took the vehicle used by the attackers to the newspaper's editorial office.

The editor of "Charlie Hebdo", Stefan Šarbonije, received death threats and lived under police protection. He always insisted that caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad were harmless entertainment.

After the controversial caricature of the Prophet Muhammad came out, he said: "If you start to wonder whether you should draw Muhammad or not... then the next question is, should you put the names of Muslims in the newspaper?" And then, can you put people's names on the list?”

According to the media, the attack took place during the editorial board meeting. A source told Reuters that about 50 shots were fired.

Charb in the editorial office of "Charles Hebdo"

He was on Al Qaeda's most wanted list in 2013 because of a caricature of the Prophet Muhammad.

French President Francois Hollande said that this was, without a doubt, a terrorist attack.

According to AP, this is the deadliest terrorist attack on French soil in the last two decades.

The last major attack in Paris occurred in the mid-90s when the Algerian Islamist group GIA carried out a series of attacks, including a 1995 commuter train bombing that killed eight people and injured 150.

The mayor of Paris invited citizens to march tomorrow evening, while on social networks people are invited to take to the streets tonight "for freedom of the press, democracy and the republic".

Support for French journalism comes from all over the world. In front of the French embassy in Berlin, flowers can be seen as a sign of condolences to the families of the victims.

Today in Berlin

The Danish newspaper "Yillands", which also published cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad, increased security measures in the newsroom.

The spokesman of the police in Paris, Rocco Contento, confirmed that three attackers entered the editorial office of the weekly at around 11.30:XNUMX am.

"They opened fire on everyone, it was a real massacre... a slaughterhouse," Contento told the newspaper "Liberation".

"Some found refuge on the roof of the building. The attackers then left the building, and then the exchange of fire with the police began."

Contento confirmed that 10 journalists and two policemen were among those killed.

The police launched an extensive search for the three attackers, who fled in a car.

After the attack, they got into a waiting car. After driving off, they abandoned that car and stole another car, throwing the driver out onto the road.

"This is the blackest day in the history of the French press," said Christophe DeLore from Reporters Without Borders.

French terrorism expert Jean-Charles Brissard told the BBC that the attack was well planned:

"These individuals were well prepared, well equipped, they had military-style weapons, they probably also had body armor. Therefore, these individuals were well trained and determined to commit this terrorist act, which is probably the worst we have had in the last 30 years."

Kontento said that the premises of the weekly newspaper were under police protection, because the weekly newspaper had received a lot of threats in recent weeks.

Mohamed Shafik from the Ramadhan Foundation, which works with young Muslims from Britain, said that a similar attack could happen in Great Britain. "The thing that keeps me awake at night is the fact that we have these lone wolves."

Islamists from the ranks of the Islamic State threatened to attack France just a few minutes after "Ebdo" published a cartoon of Al-Baghdadi.

More than five million Muslims live in France, and it is the largest Muslim population in Europe.

“I am very angry. These are criminals, barbarians. They sold their souls to the devil. This is not freedom. This is not Islam and I hope that the French will come out of this united," the imam of the Drancy mosque in Paris, Hasan Chalgumi, told Reuters.

I have Chalgumi at the crime scene

Reuters reports that 20 people were wounded, five of whom are in critical condition.

According to the BBC, a woman said that one of the attackers, with a phantom on his head and a weapon in his hand, burst into her office and asked where the offices of "Charlie Hebdo" were.

He then went in the direction of "Sharli", where a few moments later shots were heard.

A witness to the attack said that he saw the attack from a nearby building in the very center of the French capital.

"About half an hour ago, two men with black hoods on their heads entered the building with Kalashnikovs," Benoit Bringe told the station.

"Three policemen came on bicycles, but they had to leave because the attackers were armed.. There was a lot of shooting in the street."

"A few minutes later we heard a lot of shooting," he told TV station iTELE, adding that the attackers were then seen leaving the newsroom building.

According to a police official, three police officers were among the wounded.

"It's a massacre," a police official told BFM TV.

The newspaper was the target of a bomb attack in November 2011 after they put a caricature of the Prophet Muhammad on the front page.

Fiamneta Venner, who worked at "Charlie Hebdo", told the BBC that journalists at the paper were afraid of similar attacks.

The director of "Monda" Gilles Van Cott condemned the attack: "The murders that happened today strengthen our conviction that it is necessary to fight against ignorance, intolerance, obscurity and fanaticism. It is more important than ever to remember that press freedom is non-negotiable".

Hollande: An act of barbarism that will not go unpunished

French President Francois Hollande arrived at the scene of the accident.

Hollande arrives at the scene of the accident

Hollande said that France today experienced "an extraordinary act of barbarism committed against a newspaper". The head of state added that a certain number of terrorist attacks have been prevented in recent weeks.

He added that France is facing a "shock". "We have to show that we are a united country".

Hollande said that France must be "firm and strong", adding that the country "will fight against these threats and we will punish the attackers".

Hollande said that 40 people were rescued.

The government announced that France is raising the level of national security to the highest level.

Hollande announced the holding of an extraordinary meeting in the Elysée Palace later today.

The newspaper "Mond" reports that the evacuation of children from schools in the 11th arrondissement of Paris has been ordered.

Newspaper offices, shopping malls, museums and stations have been placed under police protection, sources from the French government told The Guardian.

France warned the media to be careful and pay attention to their security.

In 2012, "Charles Hebdo" published caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad, including caricatures of him naked and one of him being driven in a cart by an orthodox Jew.

These are just some of the caricatures published in the weekly "Charles Hebdo":

The French government asked the editors of the paper not to publish those cartoons, and when they did not do so, the government ordered the closure of embassies, cultural centers and schools in 20 countries of the world for fear of reprisals, "The Guardian" reports.

Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius publicly criticized the paper's policy, saying: "Is it really smart to add fuel to the fire?"

Gerard Biard, the editor-in-chief, rejected those criticisms: "We are a paper that respects French laws. If these laws are different from those in Kabul or Riyadh, we will not try to respect them either".

Cameron: Britain stands with France

British Prime Minister David Cameron condemned the attack on the editorial office of the Paris weekly and said that Britain stands with France in the fight against terrorism.

"The murders in Paris are terrible. We stand with the French people in the fight against terrorism and the defense of press freedom," Cameron said in a statement.

A spokesman for US President Barack Obama condemned the attack, saying the White House expressed solidarity with the families of those killed and wounded.

The head of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, also condemned the attack, calling it barbaric.

"I am deeply shocked by this brutal and inhumane attack," Juncker said.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel condemned the attack, calling it "heinous".

"I am shocked by the news about this malicious attack on the editorial office of the newspaper in Paris. In these moments of pain, I want to express to you and your compatriots the sympathies of the German people," said Merkel's message to Hollande.

She added that this was not only an attack on French citizens, but also on freedom of the press and freedom of speech.

Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi joined the condemnation of the attack, saying on Twitter that "violence will always lose the battle with freedom."

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg condemned the "barbaric act and this brutal attack on freedom of the press".

Islamists called to attack France

Security measures had already been raised in France after last year's calls by Islamic extremists to attack France and its citizens in retaliation for Paris's involvement in attacks on Islamist strongholds in the Middle East and Africa.

Last year, a man shouting “Allahu akbar” (God is great) drove his car into a crowd in the city of Dijon. 13 people were injured on that occasion. Prime Minister Manuel Valls said at the time that France "has never before been faced with such a strong link with terrorism".

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