voiceofreason
Senior News Editor since 2011
http://washington.cbslocal.com/2015/01/07/charlie-hebdo-terror-attack/
Gunmen Kill At Least 12 In ‘Terrorist Attack’ At French Satirical Newspaper
January 7, 2015 9:55 AM
PARIS (CBS News/CBSDC/AP) — Paris police say three gunmen attacked the office of a French satirical newspaper in Paris on Wednesday, killing at least 12 people and leaving at least as many more injured.
CBS News’ Elaine Cobbe reports that, according to witnesses, two armed and masked men walked into the headquarters of the Charlie Hebdo magazine and opened fire in the entrance hallway, killing people as they saw them.
Chilling video initially posted to a Facebook account shows two gunmen open fire on police in a small black car, and then shows them executing one officer as he lays on the sidewalk by shooting him at close range. The masked gunmen are then seen in the video getting into the black car and driving off. The Arabic phrase “Allahu Akbar” can be heard shouted in video of the attack.
They later abandoned the small black car and hijacked another vehicle, in which they are believed to have left central Paris. It was not clear where the third suspect went, as he was not seen making a getaway in the black car after the police officer was shot.
Calling the incident a “terrorist attack,” Hollande said “we must show we are a united country,” and vowed to respond with “firmness.”
Without further explanation, Hollande said “several” attacks had been averted over recent weeks, and added that France was a target for extremists “because we’re a country committed to liberty.”
Cobbe reported that, according to at least one witness, one of the gunman was heard asking for people by name.
The suspects managed to escape the scene and were being pursued by police into Paris suburbs.
A reporter for Britain’s Telegraph newspaper in Paris told Sky News that the first two officers to arrive, who were apparently unarmed, fled after seeing gunmen armed with automatic weapons and possibly a grenade launcher.
The terror alert in the metro Paris area was raised to its highest level following the attack. All media outlets, department stores, places of worship and transport were to receive reinforced security, the prime minister’s office said in a statement. The statement added that all available civilian and military forces were being deployed, and that “all means” were being used to try and identify, track down, and apprehend the suspects.
The last tweet from the magazine came less than an hour before the reports of a shooting. It was a picture depicting Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), with a message wishing him, “Best wishes.”
French President Francois Hollande appeared at the scene of the shooting quickly and confirmed that the hunt for the suspects was ongoing.
Paris prosecutor’s spokeswoman Agnes Thibault-Lecuivre confirmed 12 people were killed. Among the dead were two men who went by the pen names: Charb — the editor and a cartoonist as well — and the cartoonist Cabu, Thibault-Lecuivre confirmed.
Two police officers were also among the dead, including one assigned as Charb’s bodyguard after prior death threats against him, a police official told The Associated Press, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the ongoing investigation.
Charlie Hebdo’s office was firebombed in 2011 after publishing a cartoon depicting an image of the Prophet Muhammed. Any depiction of the prophet is forbidden by Islam.
Ignoring the attack and the threat of further violence, Charlie Hebdo published more Muhammad pictures the following year.
AFP reports that the gunmen shouted: “We have avenged the prophet.”
“The motive here is absolutely clear; trying to shut down a media organization that lampooned the Prophet Mohammad,” CBS News security consultant and former CIA deputy chief Mike Morell told “CBS This Morning co-host Charlie Rose. “What we have to figure out here is the perpetrators and whether they were self-radicalized or whether they were individuals who fought in Syria and Iraq and came back, or whether they were actually directed by ISIS or al Qaeda.”
Morrell added a warning that law enforcement and intelligence agencies would need to “worry about copycat attacks, not only in France but in the rest of the world, and I would even say in the broader world to include the United States.”
Gunmen Kill At Least 12 In ‘Terrorist Attack’ At French Satirical Newspaper
January 7, 2015 9:55 AM
PARIS (CBS News/CBSDC/AP) — Paris police say three gunmen attacked the office of a French satirical newspaper in Paris on Wednesday, killing at least 12 people and leaving at least as many more injured.
CBS News’ Elaine Cobbe reports that, according to witnesses, two armed and masked men walked into the headquarters of the Charlie Hebdo magazine and opened fire in the entrance hallway, killing people as they saw them.
Chilling video initially posted to a Facebook account shows two gunmen open fire on police in a small black car, and then shows them executing one officer as he lays on the sidewalk by shooting him at close range. The masked gunmen are then seen in the video getting into the black car and driving off. The Arabic phrase “Allahu Akbar” can be heard shouted in video of the attack.
They later abandoned the small black car and hijacked another vehicle, in which they are believed to have left central Paris. It was not clear where the third suspect went, as he was not seen making a getaway in the black car after the police officer was shot.
Calling the incident a “terrorist attack,” Hollande said “we must show we are a united country,” and vowed to respond with “firmness.”
Without further explanation, Hollande said “several” attacks had been averted over recent weeks, and added that France was a target for extremists “because we’re a country committed to liberty.”
Cobbe reported that, according to at least one witness, one of the gunman was heard asking for people by name.
The suspects managed to escape the scene and were being pursued by police into Paris suburbs.
A reporter for Britain’s Telegraph newspaper in Paris told Sky News that the first two officers to arrive, who were apparently unarmed, fled after seeing gunmen armed with automatic weapons and possibly a grenade launcher.
The terror alert in the metro Paris area was raised to its highest level following the attack. All media outlets, department stores, places of worship and transport were to receive reinforced security, the prime minister’s office said in a statement. The statement added that all available civilian and military forces were being deployed, and that “all means” were being used to try and identify, track down, and apprehend the suspects.
The last tweet from the magazine came less than an hour before the reports of a shooting. It was a picture depicting Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), with a message wishing him, “Best wishes.”
French President Francois Hollande appeared at the scene of the shooting quickly and confirmed that the hunt for the suspects was ongoing.
Paris prosecutor’s spokeswoman Agnes Thibault-Lecuivre confirmed 12 people were killed. Among the dead were two men who went by the pen names: Charb — the editor and a cartoonist as well — and the cartoonist Cabu, Thibault-Lecuivre confirmed.
Two police officers were also among the dead, including one assigned as Charb’s bodyguard after prior death threats against him, a police official told The Associated Press, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the ongoing investigation.
Charlie Hebdo’s office was firebombed in 2011 after publishing a cartoon depicting an image of the Prophet Muhammed. Any depiction of the prophet is forbidden by Islam.
Ignoring the attack and the threat of further violence, Charlie Hebdo published more Muhammad pictures the following year.
AFP reports that the gunmen shouted: “We have avenged the prophet.”
“The motive here is absolutely clear; trying to shut down a media organization that lampooned the Prophet Mohammad,” CBS News security consultant and former CIA deputy chief Mike Morell told “CBS This Morning co-host Charlie Rose. “What we have to figure out here is the perpetrators and whether they were self-radicalized or whether they were individuals who fought in Syria and Iraq and came back, or whether they were actually directed by ISIS or al Qaeda.”
Morrell added a warning that law enforcement and intelligence agencies would need to “worry about copycat attacks, not only in France but in the rest of the world, and I would even say in the broader world to include the United States.”