France has launched a massive manhunt following two violent attacks in and around Paris — a terrorist assault on the satirical publication Charlie Hebdo on Wednesday and a shootout that left a policewoman dead on Thursday.
Masked gunmen stormed the Charlie Hebdo offices and left 12 people dead in the worst terrorist attack in France for half a century. It is not yet known if this attack and the shootout are connected.
French police converged on an area northeast of Paris on Thursday afternoon after two brothers suspected of being behind the terrorist attack were spotted at a gasoline station, Reuters reported.
A tribute to those killed in the terrorist attack on Charlie Hebdo, posted outside the Paris office.
Gonzalo Fuentes / Reuters
The police have named three suspects in the Charlie Hebdo attack, including brothers Said and Chérif Kouachi.
The brothers, both French nationals, were considered to be "armed and dangerous," police said. Some reports suggest they were spotted on Thursday morning in Aisne, northern France. Here is our look at what we know so far about the brothers.
Chérif was sentenced to three years in prison in 2008 for his involvement in a network that sent volunteer fighters to Iraq to fight alongside al-Qaeda, of which he served 18 months. Said was identified as a suspect in Wednesday's attack after leaving his ID card behind in a car, the BBC reported.
ID card of Said Kouachi, suspect in #CharlieHebdo attack, found in car left by 2 suspects http://t.co/QBuyFSVORd
The third named suspect is 18-year-old Hamyd Mourad, who has turned himself in.
Paris prosecutor's spokeswoman said Mourad turned himself in at a police station in northern France, the New York Times reported. His connection with the Kouachi brothers, if any, is not yet clear. Friends of his reportedly said he was at school during Wednesday's shootings.
No group has officially claimed responsibility for the Charlie Hebdo attack.
Witnesses say the gunmen shouted "Allahu akbar" while storming the newspaper's offices and yelled that they were avenging the prophet during the attack.
Charlie Hebdo has a history of satirizing many religions, including Islam. In 2011, it was firebombed after running a cartoon depicting the Prophet Muhammed. Here is the cover of that issue, which threatens "100 lashes if you don't die laughing!"
Governments and politicians around the world condemned the attack on theCharlie Hebdo offices and supported the right to free speech.
French President François Hollande tweeted: "Freedom is always stronger than barbarity. Our best weapon is our unity." And here's what Barack Obama said:
"I strongly condemn the horrific shooting at the offices of Charlie Hebdo magazine in Paris" —President Obama
There were peaceful protests in Paris, across Europe, and in the US on Wednesday night. Here’s the one in San Francisco:
Stephen Lam / Reuters
On social media, people used the hashtag #IAmCharlie to show solidarity with those killed in the Charlie Hebdo attack and with freedom of speech.
Some people, including French Prime Minister Manual Valls, used the slogan as their profile picture. The publication's homepage shared a link to a PDF that contained the slogan in seven languages.
The hashtag #IAmAhmed also became popular, to mark the fact that one of the twelve people killed in the attack was a French Muslim policeman, Ahmed Merabet.
Here's a tweet from a co-host at Al Jazeera America:
#IamAhmed created in honor of French Muslim cop Ahmed Merabat killed in#ParisShooting
Georges Wolinski, 80, an artist born in Tunisia (left), and Jean Cabut, 76, Charlie Hebdo’s lead cartoonist, known as Cabu.
Jean-Paul Pelissier / Reuters
The others who died were:
Philippe Honoré, 73, a Charlie Hebdo cartoonist
Mustapha Ourrad, a Charlie Hebdo copy editor
Elsa Cayat, a Charlie Hebdo analyst and columnist
Bernard Verlhac, also known as Tignous, 57, a member of a group of artists called Cartoonists for Peace
Bernard Maris, 68, an economist and satirist
Michel Renaud, a former journalist and political reporter who was visiting the offices
Frederic Boisseau, a building maintenance worker
Franck Brinsolaro, 49, a police officer appointed to head security for Charbonnier
Ahmed Merabet, 42, a police officer
Mustapha Ourrad, a Charlie Hebdo copy editor
Elsa Cayat, a Charlie Hebdo analyst and columnist
Bernard Verlhac, also known as Tignous, 57, a member of a group of artists called Cartoonists for Peace
Bernard Maris, 68, an economist and satirist
Michel Renaud, a former journalist and political reporter who was visiting the offices
Frederic Boisseau, a building maintenance worker
Franck Brinsolaro, 49, a police officer appointed to head security for Charbonnier
Ahmed Merabet, 42, a police officer
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