President Francois Hollande declared Thursday a national day of mourning, in wake of the Charlie Hebdo attack. A major manhunt has also been launched against the gunmen who opened fire inside the satirical magazine's Paris office.
The police named the suspects for the shooting as Hamyd Mourad and brothers Said Kouachi and Cherif Kouachi, currently being circulated among the agencies. The three suspects wore masks but were caught on camera during the assaults.
One of the suspects for the Charlie Hebdo Paris attack, Cherif Kouachi, was sentenced three years in 2008 for involvement in a group which sent Jihadist fighters to Iraq. The Charlie Hebdo attack is the latest assault on the magazine, which in 2011 was firebombed the day after it published a caricature of Mohammad.
The Charlie Hebdo magazine is known for its brash satire, which at times bordered on the obscene. The publication caught controversy in November 2011 after members of the Islam community were outraged with its caricature of the prophet Mohammad.
Thursday's attack was executed during the magazine's weekly editorial meeting. French press confirmed at least three cartoonists died in the incident (Cabu, Tignous and Wolinski). Bernard Maris, a French economist and contributor to the magazine, was also killed.
Cartoonist Corinne Rey was forced at gunpoint to enter the code for the office doors: "they said they belonged to al-Qaeda." The gunmen spoke fluent French.
An amateur video captured one of the gunmen shooting one injured policeman on the pavement, point blank and on the head. The group was then heard shouting "we have avenged the Prophet Muhammad" and "God is Great" in Arabic before it left.
Details on the manhunt are being kept under wraps, but BBC reports operations are now spread outside the French capital, as far as the eastern city of Reims, 140 kilometers away.
President Hollande considered the incident an attack on free speech Wednesday, called the country to unite. "Our best weapon is our unity," he said in a televised address.
