Gunmen have shot dead 12 people at the Paris office of French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in an apparent militant Islamist attack.
Four of the magazine’s well-known cartoonists, including its editor, were among those killed, as well as two police officers.
A major police operation is under way to find three gunmen who fled by car.
President Francois Hollande said there was no doubt it had been a terrorist attack “of exceptional barbarity”.
The masked attackers opened fire with assault rifles in the office and exchanged shots with police in the street outside before escaping by car. They later abandoned the car in Rue de Meaux, northern Paris.
Death threats
Witnesses said they heard the gunmen shouting “we have avenged the Prophet Muhammad”.
The number of attackers was initially reported to be two, but French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve later said they were hunting three “criminals”.
People had been “murdered in a cowardly manner”, President Hollande told reporters at the scene. “We are threatened because we are a country of liberty,” he added, appealing for national unity.
US President Barack Obama has condemned the “horrific shooting”, offering to provide any assistance needed “to help bring these terrorists to justice”.
UK Prime Minister David Cameron said in a tweet: “The murders in Paris are sickening. We stand with the French people in the fight against terror and defending the freedom of the press.”
The Arab League and Al-Azhar mosque, Egypt’s top Islamic institution, have also condemned the attack.
Analysis: Hugh Schofield, BBC News, Paris
Charlie Hebdo is part of a venerable tradition in French journalism going back to the scandal sheets that denounced Marie-Antoinette in the run-up to the French Revolution.
The tradition combines left-wing radicalism with a provocative scurrility that often borders on the obscene. Its decision to mock the Prophet Muhammad in 2011 was entirely consistent with its historic raison d’etre.
The paper has never sold in enormous numbers – and for 10 years from 1981, it ceased publication for lack of resources.
But with its garish front-page cartoons and incendiary headlines, it is an unmissable staple of newspaper kiosks and railway station booksellers. –BBC
So why is this a false flag? It may seem a little dumb but Bigfoot was in the news under 48 hours ago. See the elite have a way of communicating things to each other for events, this time it is in Paris and it is ISIS. This type of identification of a false flag is often overlooked because the story seems so minimal with Bigfoot. However it is not minimal and should not be overlooked!
Below is the story on Bigfoot posted by Fox in Huston:
Photos of alleged Big Foot sightings hit social mediaÂ
“Posted: Jan 06, 2015 5:41 PM ESTUpdated: Jan 06, 2015 5:41 PM EST