Jan. 07--REPORTING FROM PARIS -- Shouting "God is great" in Arabic, masked gunmen stormed the offices of a French satirical magazine Wednesday, killing 12 people including the magazine's editor, his bodyguard and a prominent cartoonist.
Police said two or three hooded attackers armed with assault rifles infiltrated the building near the Bastille monument around 11:40 a.m. local time and opened fire on a staff meeting at the magazine Charlie Hebdo. The weekly publication has published controversial depictions of the Islamic prophet Muhammad that angered Muslims around the world.
The gunmen went to the second- and third-floor editorial offices and attacked journalists and then fled, authorities said. The men were reported to have spoken earlier in fluent, unaccented French as they entered the building.
A police official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said investigators had identified three suspects: two French brothers ages 34 and 32, and an 18-year-old whose nationality was not immediately clear. There were conflicting reports about whether the suspects had been apprehended. NBC News cited unnamed U.S. officials as saying two had been detained and a third killed.
French President Francois Hollande addressed the nation Wednesday night, vowing to see the perpetrators captured and punished.
"Freedom will always be stronger than barbarism," Hollande said, adding that France has always been able to overcome difficulties and counter assaults on its most dearly held values.
"We must be aware that our best weapon is our unity, the unity of all of our citizens. Nothing can divide us. Nothing must separate us from one another," the president stated.
Video shown by public broadcaster France Televisions showed two gunmen in black outside the magazine offices after the shootings, firing at random down a narrow cobblestone street flanked by apartment and office buildings.
"Hey! We avenged the prophet Muhammad! We killed Charlie Hebdo," one of the men could be heard shouting in French in the televised video.
The attackers reportedly fled in a waiting car, then later hijacked another vehicle. A massive manhunt was underway.
No individual or group took immediate responsibility for the assault.
The dead included 10 staff members of the magazine as well as two police officers. Five more people were seriously injured, authorities said. Police union spokesman Christophe Crepin said the victims included the magazine's editor, Stephane Charbonnier -- widely known by his pen name Charb -- and the police bodyguard assigned to protect him after death threats were issued by Islamists over provocative cartoons published in November 2011.
Also among the dead were Bernard Maris, an economist and regular contributor to the magazine, and cartoonists Georges Wolinski, who also worked for Paris Match magazine, and Berbard Verlhac, known to readers as Tignous.
Cartoonist Corinne Rey, known as Coco, told the newspaper l'Humanite that she had been forced to let the gunmen into the newspaper offices with her key code when she arrived to the building with her young daughter. They hid under a desk during the shooting rampage that lasted about five minutes, said the newspaper, which like many French publications expressed solidarity with the magazine with the black-bordered statement on its website "JeSuisCharlie" -- I am Charlie.
The terror alert in Paris was raised to its highest level after the attacks, reportedly the deadliest in France since World War II. Schools closed throughout the city, and authorities instituted extraordinary security measures to boost vigilance at transportation hubs, retail centers, media offices and houses of worship.
U.S. counter-terrorism officials began searching databases and checking recorded intercepts for information related to the attack, a U.S. official said Wednesday, but analysts had yet to identify individuals or groups responsible for the attack.
The Department of Homeland Security is closely monitoring the attack and will modify security measures inside the United States as appropriate, an agency official said.
Hollande, who went to the scene with Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve, described the incident as "a terrorist attack without doubt."
He told reporters at the scene that the victims were "murdered in a cowardly manner."
"We are threatened because we are a country of liberty," he added.
Rocco Contento, a representative of the police union Unite, said there was "butchery" inside the magazine's offices.
"They went in there to kill," he said. "It was carnage."
Gerard Biard, a senior editor of Charlie Hebdo who was in London at the time of the attack, expressed disbelief in comments to broadcaster France Inter.
"I don't understand how people can attack a newspaper with heavy weapons. A newspaper is not a weapon of war," Biard said.
Anonymous supporters of Al Qaeda and Islamic State movements sent messages via Twitter hailing the attack as revenge for the magazine's disrespect of Muhammad.
However, tens of thousands of other people took to social media to express solidarity with the magazine and sympathy for the victims and their families, flooding Twitter with condolences.
As evening fell, thousands of demonstrators gathered in historic Place de la Republique to show their anger, sympathy and solidarity with the assassinated journalists. Some lit candles, others raised copies of the magazine or simply held pens aloft to show their support of the cartoonists who died.
President Obama condemned the attack and promised French officials any help needed to bring the perpetrators to justice.
"France is America's oldest ally, and has stood shoulder to shoulder with the United States in the fight against terrorists who threaten our shared security and the world," the president said in a statement. "France, and the great city of Paris where this outrageous attack took place, offer the world a timeless example that will endure well beyond the hateful vision of these killers."
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned the attack as "a horrendous, unjustifiable and coldblooded crime" and an "assault on a cornerstone of democracy."
"This horrific attack was meant to divide. We must not fall into that trap. This is a moment of solidarity around the world," Ban said.
The reformist Ahmadiyya Muslim Community USA issued a statement saying it "categorically condemns the barbaric attack on Charlie Hebdo in Paris, France, and mourns with the families of the victims."
"Nothing justifies this barbaric and inhumane attack," said Nasim Rehmatullah, national vice president of the community. "Islam and prophet Muhammad teach that life is sacrosanct and specifically forbids any worldly punishment for blasphemy. The culprits behind this atrocity have violated every Islamic tenet of compassion, justice, and peace."
The Council on American-Islamic Relations also denounced the slayings.
"The proper response to such attacks on the freedoms we hold dear is not to vilify any faith," CAIR Executive Director Nihad Awad said in a statement, "but instead to marginalize extremists of all backgrounds who seek to stifle freedom and to create or widen societal divisions."
In Moscow, a top Russian lawmaker called the attacks a reminder of the real threat faced by the West.
"The tragedy in Paris demonstrates that it is not Russia which is a threat to Europe and its security," Alexei Pushkov, chief of the international relations committee of the upper house of parliament, said via Twitter. "The real threat comes from adepts of terror."
The Russian Foreign Ministry condemned the attack in a statement on its website and stressed "the necessity to continue active cooperation in the struggle against the threat of terrorism."
European leaders were quick to condemn the attacks and express their solidarity with the French people. British Prime Minister David Cameron described the murders as "sickening."
"We stand with the French people in the fight against terror and defending the freedom of the press," a message on his official Twitter account read. Cameron planned a full intelligence briefing with security chiefs later Wednesday to discuss the terror threat.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who was visiting London on Wednesday, stood beside Cameron at a news conference and described the attacks as "despicable."
Witnesses near the magazine's offices described a scene of carnage.
"Several people were on the floor. There was a lot of blood," one witness who entered the offices to try to help victims told the BBC.
The magazine has incurred the wrath of Muslims in general and Islamist militants in particular for caricatures that included the prophet Muhammad naked and in a wheelchair pushed by an Orthodox Jew.
The last tweet by the magazine before the attack displayed a cartoon depicting Abu Bakr Baghdadi, the leader of Islamic State, which has seized large areas of Syria and Iraq.
The Committee to Protect Journalists called the attack on the magazine staff the worst it had seen.
"We are shocked and saddened by the horrific violence perpetrated against the weekly Charlie Hebdo -- one of the deadliest media attacks ever documented by CPJ," said Executive Director Joel Simon. "Around the world, journalists working in their own countries are targeted and killed because of what they publish or broadcast. An attack of this nature in Paris shows that the threat to journalists and free expression is global, with no safe haven."
Special correspondent Boyle reported from London and Willsher from Paris. Staff writer Williams reported from Los Angeles.
UPDATES
4 p.m.: Updates with NBC News report that two suspects apprehended, a third killed.
1:30 p.m.: Updates with police saying three suspects have been identified.
11:20 a.m.: Updates with French president addressing the nation.
11 a.m.: This article has been updated with the identies of more victims, a cartoonist's report of letting the gunmen into the building, Muslim communities' condemnation of the attack and demonstrators showing solidarity in Place de la Republique.
10 a.m.: This article has been updated to include the identities of three victims of the attack. It also includes the attackers' shouts heard on video and reactions to the attack from around the world.
8:45 a.m.: This article has been updated to include U.S. counter-terrorism response to the attack in Paris.
8:30 a.m.: This article has been updated throughout with new details and background.
7 a.m.: This article has been updated with new details of the attack and comment from a police union official.
6:20 a.m.: This article has been updated throughout with new details.
5:11 a.m.: This article has been updated with information describing the scene of the attack.
4:32 a.m.: This article has been was updated with a report that 12 people have been killed in the attack.
4:12 a.m.: This article has been updated with background on recent terrorist threats in France.
3:39 a.m.: This article has been updated with additional details and background.
This article was originally published at 3:23 a.m.
