A JOURNALIST says she had a gun pointed to her head at the Charlie Hebdo offices but was told she would be spared because she was a woman.

Sigolene Vinson, told Radio France Internationale, said she survived the attack at the satirical weekly magazine which killed 12 people because of her gender.

Ms Vinson said that one of the shooters told her: “I’m not killing you because you are a woman and we don’t kill women but you have to convert to Islam, read the Qu’ran and wear a veil.”

She said they yelled “allahu akbar” or “God is great” before running out of the office.

Laurent Leger, another Charlie Hebdo journalist who survived the attack, said his colleagues were laughing and initially thought sounds of gunfire was a joke.

“We thought it was a joke, that it was fire crackers,” said Mr Leger. “Then we heard footsteps. The door opened. A guy shouted ‘Allahu Akbar’”.

“They called out the name of (Charlie Hebdo editor Stephane Charbonnier) Charb,” he said. “But after that they fired into the group.”

Mr Leger said he threw himself under a desk to get away from the gunman and “escaped his eyes.”