A major manhunt has been
launched in Paris for three gunmen who shot dead 12 people at the office
of the French satirical magazine
Charlie Hebdo.Eight journalists, including the magazine's editor, and two policemen were among the dead.
Protests over the killings are being held in cities across France. It is the country's deadliest attack in decades.
President Francois Hollande called it a "cowardly murder" and declared a day of national mourning on Thursday.
He called on all French people to stand together. "Our best weapon is our unity," he said in a televised address.
Security has been stepped up across France in the wake of the attack, with Paris placed on the highest alert.
The satirical weekly has courted controversy in the past with its irreverent take on news and current affairs. It was firebombed in November 2011 a day after it carried a caricature of the Prophet Muhammad.
France's chief prosecutor, Francois Molins, said 11 people were wounded in the attack, four of them seriously.
He told reporters all efforts were being made to find those responsible for the attack, without giving any details about the investigation.
"The investigations have been numerous and in-depth, because of course, the police have been mobilised, and these inquiries are going on."
Police said the masked gunmen fled to northern Paris, before abandoning their car and hijacking a second one.
Eyewitnesses said they heard as many as 50 shots fired by the attackers both inside the Charlie Hebdo office and on the streets outside.
The gunmen were captured on amateur video shooting one injured police officer at point blank range in the head on the pavement outside.
They were heard shouting "we have avenged the Prophet Muhammad" and "God is Great" in Arabic ("Allahu Akbar").
The attack took place as the magazine was holding its daily editorial meeting. French media have named three cartoonists killed in the attack as Cabu, Tignous and Wolinski, as well as Charlie Hebdo contributor and French economist Bernard Maris.
Charlie Hebdo editor Stephane Charbonnier, 47, had received death threats in the past and was living under police protection.
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.
French government officials have held an emergency meeting, and President Hollande is due to give a televised address at 19:00 GMT.
Source:BBC

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