Journalist Sigolène Vinson reveals she was spared death by the attackers in massacre because she is a woman

Third terror alert in Paris as another gunman is on loose - hours after PC shot dead by 'North African wielding rifle'

Seven connected to two main suspects arrested in towns of Reims, Charleville-Mezieres and the Paris area

Questions will be asked why Frenchmen with links to terror were apparently given free reign to carry out atrocity

over immediate fears for their safety

Shocked diners evacuated from restaurant while they were eating lunch

Properties in village of Longpont surrounded by special forces as one officer warns MailOnline: 'This is not a game'

Dozens of armed police swarm into nearby villages to conduct house-to-house searches and set up road blocks

Officers are said to have found a Molotov cocktail bomb and jihadist flag in their car which they abandoned nearby

They are believed to have fled on foot, still armed, into 32,000-acre forest, same size as Paris, 50 miles from capital

Cherif and Said Kouachi as manhunt by terror police zeroes in on area of north France


Two armed suspects wanted over the Charlie Hebdo killings were last night being pursued through woodland as a huge manhunt closed in on a forest.

Police believe they have tracked down the brothers to a remote area about 50 miles north-east of Paris after reportedly robbing a nearby petrol station.

Officers are said to have found a Molotov cocktail bomb and jihadist flag in the car of Cherif and Said Kouachi, which they abandoned before fleeing.

The men, still armed, headed on foot into the vast Forêt de Retz (Retz Forest) that measures 32,000 acres, an area roughly the size of Paris.

Special police combing the French countryside were last night searching a huge cave hundreds of feet deep for any sign of the alleged gunmen.

Veronique La Mer, whose house is within 50 yards of the cave, a former quarry, said as she watched anti-terror police search: 'We are afraid.'

She added: 'I didn't sleep at all last (Wednesday) night. I have two children in the house. The police told us to stay inside in our houses.

'We have seen police swarming the villages all day and helicopters over our heads. These woods are huge. You could easily hide out here for weeks.

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Focus: An armed French policeman aims for a shot as he patrols in Fleury, north of Paris, France, during the post-massacre investigation

Loaded: French police carry out night time searches in a local village named Fleury, looking for the Koachi brothers who shot dead 12 people

The two armed suspects wanted over the massacre were last night being pursued through woodland as a huge manhunt closed in on a forest

Operations: Members of the French police special force GIPN carry out searches in Corcy, northern France

On the lookout: A member of the French GIPN intervention police forces secures a neighbourhood in Corcy, north-east of Paris

Over you go: Members of the French police special force GIPN carry out searches in Corcy

Armed: Members of the GIPN and RAID, French police special forces, walk in Corcy, northern France, as they carry out searches as part of an investigation into a deadly attack the day before by armed gunmen on the Paris offices of French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo

Special forces: Members of the GIPN walk in Corcy, northern France, carrying out searches as part of the investigation

'There are lots of caves. The atmosphere in town is very strange. At 6pm the streets were deserted. Every one was afraid to be outside. '

Beatrice Le Frans, who also lives in Fleury village, told of balaclava-clad men carrying machine guns thumping on her door demanding to be let in.

She said: 'I thought they were the terrorists. I was terrified. They were trying to break down my door. But then they said they were the police.

'They said to be careful and stay inside. Luckily I have three grown up sons here otherwise I would be very scared. '

Swarms of police in armoured personnel carriers have sealed off the nearby village of Abbaye de Longpont, which has just 300 residents.

They are conducting house-to-house enquiries with terrified locals in the area, and at least two properties have been surrounded by special forces.

They were armed with automatic weapons and body armour, as helicopters hovered overhead and one officer told MailOnline: 'This is not a game'.

Officers were seen banging on doors and questioning those inside a nearby school, while diners were evacuated from a restaurant while eating lunch.

Searches were also taking place in various other villages in northern France, with a road block in place in the village of Corcy on the Rue de L'Etang.

The two suspects - one an ex-pizza deliveryman with a prior terror conviction and a fondness for rap - were 'armed and dangerous', French police said.

Land: The men headed on foot into the vast Forêt de Retz (above, dark green) that measures 32,000 acres, an area roughly the size of Paris

In front of a Chrismtas scene: Armed police search the village of Longpont in Aisne, France

Armed police search Longpont in Aisne (left), while members of the GIPN are pictured in Corcy, near Villers-Cotterets (right)

In their sights: Swarms of anti-terror police with automatic weapons, body armour and shields patrol the tiny village of Longpont in northern France as they close in on two prime suspects in the terror attack on the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo in Paris which left 12 people dead

Two men, believed to be brothers Cherif and Said Kouachi, have been tracked down to Longpont area after reportedly robbing a petrol station

Terrified resident of the tiny village of Longpont speak to riot officers as they comb the area for the Charlie Hebdo massacre suspects

Training their weapons: Terror police scour the village of Longpont after the suspects abandoned their car and fled on foot into nearby woods

A member of the French National Police Intervention Group is near Villers-Cotterets where the suspects are believed to have fled on foot

Suspects: The three men were named as Cherif Kouachi (left), 32, his brother Said Kouachi (right), 34, and Hamyd Mourad, 18, of Gennevilliers

Police asked cars to stop before passing through and checked the boots of all passing vehicles.

Also last night, Twitter users urged people to avoid blaming Islam for the massacre - by encouraging them to use the hashtag #RespectForMuslims.

Meanwhile, journalist Sigolène Vinson told Radio France Internationale how she was spared death by the attacks because she is a woman.

She said that one of the men aimed his gun at her, before saying: ‘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 added that as the man left, he shouted ‘Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar’.

And an employee of documentary producers Premières Lignes Télévision, located in the same building, told of the horrific scene he encountered.

Post-production director Julien Beaupé told the New York Times: ‘We tried to look away, because it was just a sea of blood.

‘All the bodies were on the ground, there was gore on the tables, windows had been shot out and there was glass everywhere.’

Earlier, in the village of Chouy, armed police were seen storming a derelict shed. They asked villagers to go back indoors and journalists to leave.

They appeared to be checking abandoned buildings where the suspects could be hiding.

Anti-terror police and helicopters converged on the area after two men matching the description of the brothers robbed a garage about four miles away.

The station attendant in Villers-Cotterêt claimed the suspects drove off in a white Renault Clio with covered number plates in the direction of Paris.

Roadblock: Police are asked cars to stop before passing through and checking the boots of all passing vehicles

Manhunt: Searches were also taking place in a number of other villages in the north of France, with a road block in place in Corcy (above)

Armed to the teeth: Member of GIPN, French police special forces, are pictured in Corcy, near Villers-Cotterets, north-east of Paris

Closing in: Two men fitting the description of brothers Cherif and Said Kouachi were spotted after reportedly trying to rob this petrol station near Villers-Cotterêt, close to Reims

'Armed and dangerous': An attendant said the men drove off in a white Renault Clio with number plates covered up in the direction of Paris with 'exposed Kalashnikovs and rocket launchers' inside the vehicle

Unfolding terror: A graphic showing the developments since the shootings at the Charlie Hebdo offices in Paris on Wednesday morning

The employee added that they had 'exposed Kalashnikovs and rocket launchers'. Later, there were reports that the men had abandoned their car.

Bruno Fortier, the mayor of neighbouring Crepy-en-Valois, said helicopters were circling his town and police and anti-terror forces were deploying en masse.

'HE WAS IN CLASS': CLASSMATES SUPPORT TEENAGE SUSPECT Classmates of the 18-year-old man accused of being the getaway driver have defended him - claiming he was in a philosophy class when the gunmen opened fire. Mourad Hamyd handed himself into police in Charleville-Mézières, France, after seeing his name linked to the attack on social media. But a Twitter user posting under the name of @babydroma said: ‘He’s in my class, and he was there for lessons this morning.’ She added: ‘I swear to you I haven’t spoken to Mourad more than five times, but I felt obliged to help him.’ Other teenagers who claimed to know Hamyd encouraged people on Twitter to retweet the ‘#MouradHamydInnocent’ hashtag, reported The Guardian. Advertisement

'It's an incessant waltz of police cars and trucks,' he said, adding that he could not confirm reports the men were holed up in a house in the area.

The search later shifted to Abbaye de Longpont, where restaurant manager Benoit Verdun said he was told by the mayor's brother to shut his business immediately for everyone's safety.

He told the Daily Telegraph: 'There's a helicopter overhead now, but I haven't seen any police or heard any commotion.

'The forest around here is enormous, so if the brothers have gone in there, it will be quite a hunt.'

In a defiant reference to the phrase that has come to encapsulate worldwide solidarity in the wake of Wednesday's atrocity, he added: 'But, you know 'Je Suis Charlie'. We have to protect our freedom of expression.'

The dramatic manhunt came after it emerged the 'armed and dangerous' brothers had links to terror groups stretching back almost a decade.

Their alleged getaway driver Hamyd Mourad, 18, has already turned himself into police in Charleville-Mezieres in northern France.

All three French-Algerian Muslims escaped on Wednesday following the bloodbath at the offices of the notoriously anti-Islamist satirical Charlie Hebdo newspaper in Paris.

In 2008, Cherif was sentenced to three years in prison for terror offences – but served just 18 months.

Questions will be asked why – once again – young Frenchmen with close links to radical Islam and its terrorist affiliates were apparently given free rein to carry out their crimes.

The fact that two were still at large almost 24 hours after a gun battle in which two policemen died alongside ten others, mainly newspaper staff, was also a cause for huge concern.

Police (left) inspect the car used by the armed gunmen who stormed the Paris offices of Charlie Hebdo. Above right is a photo of inside the car

Closing in: Seven people have been arrested over the Charlie Hebdo massacre as two brothers with links to terrorist groups went on the run. Here, one of the suspects (left) is taken into custody by terror police

Meanwhile, a minute's silence was held across France in memory of the victims of Wednesday's atrocity as the newspaper defiantly vowed to publish next week's edition.

In separate disturbing developments, terrified workers in Paris’s business district were warned not to leave their office after a gunman was seen outside – just hours after a female police officer was shot dead by a ‘North African wielding an assault rifle’.

Workers in Paris's business district La Defense received an email this morning, warning them to stay in their offices as an armed gunman had been spotted in the area, French newspaper Le Figaro reported.

The email was sent the same morning a police officer, named by Paris Match as Clarissa Jean-Philippe, 27, died after being attacked just before dawn in Montrouge, a suburb in the south of the French capital.

The street cleaner - who stepped in and confronted the gunman - is also said to be in a serious condition, after he was shot in the face.

It is not known if the two attacks are linked to the Charlie Hebdo massacre.

Several attacks against French mosques have also been reported since the massacre - including one which was hit with three blank grenades in Le mans, west of Paris.

There were also reports this morning of an explosion at a kebab shop near a mosque in Lyon.

Response: Police are seen during an operation in the Croix-Rouge suburb of Reims, northern France, early this morning following the attacks

In their sights: The National Gendarmerie Intervention Group and anti-terrorist police raid an apartment in the Croix Rouge quarter in Reims

Dozens of anti-terror officers surround an apartment in Reims, where suspects have been arrested in connection with the Charlie Hebdo attack

Meanwhile, seven 'friends and associates' of the two main suspects in Wednesday's atrocity were detained in Reims, Charleville-Mezieres and the Paris area, police said.

Prime Minister Manuel Valls said France faced a terrorist threat 'without precedent' and confirmed the two Kouachi brothers were known to security services.

But he added it was too early to say whether authorities had underestimated the threat they posed.

'Because they were known, they had been followed,' he told RTL radio, adding: 'We must think of the victims. Today it's a day of mourning.'

Detectives identified the Kouachis after one left his identification papers in the abandoned Citroen car used to escape after the attack on Charlie Hebdo.

But the move of leaving their papers appeared deliberate, according to intelligence specialists. Police now fear they could take hostages or are planning a final ‘spectacular’ before capture.

A French police source said they were 'armed and dangerous' and that a 'nationwide hunt was underway to find them.'

He added that Mourad, a student, was encouraged to hand himself in by relatives after his name appeared on social media as a suspect for the killings.

A raid by France's elite anti-terrorist unit was underway on Wednesday in Reims as part of the hunt for the men who attacked the publication

Either the suspects will be able to escape, or 'there will be a showdown', said a member of the unit, urging reporters at the scene to be 'vigilant'

Police officers stand guard outside a building in Reims while forensics look for evidence relating to the three suspects of the Paris attack

Forensic police officers look for evidence relating to the three suspects in an apartment located in the Croix Rouge neigborhood in Reims

He is believed to be the Kouachis' brother-in-law, according to Sky News. Yesterday, he was under armed guard and being questioned by police.

Operations by RAID, the police tactical unit, closed on an address in Reims, eastern France, overnight but it came to nothing, he added.

The Kouachi brothers also had links with the Paris suburb of Pantin, where another raid took place on a suspected flat which they used as hide out on Avenue Jean-Lolive.

France is holding a day of mourning for the 12 people killed by automatic gunfire during the country's worst terrorist atrocity this century.

A minute's silence will be observed at midday across the country and the bells of Notre Dame Cathedral in the capital will toll.

Both Said Kouachi, 34, and his brother, Cherif Kouachi, 32, were first arrested in 2005 as suspected members of the Buttes Chaumont – a group operating out of the 19th arrondissement of Paris and sending terrorist fighters to Iraq.

Cherif was convicted in 2008 to three years in prison, with 18 months suspended, for his association with the underground organisation.

He had wanted to fly to Iraq via Syria, and was found with a manual for a Kalashnikov – the automatic weapon used in Wednesday's attack.

Rescue service workers evacuate an injured person on a stretcher after the shooting in Montrouge, where a man wearing a bullet-proof vest fired on police officers with an automatic rifle, seriously injuring one of them

French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve (centre) arrives at the site of a shooting in Montrouge, south of Paris, where two police officers were shot with an automatic weapon by a man wearing a bullet-proof vest

Crucial evidence: A car believed to belong to one of the suspects in the Montrouge shooting is towed away in Arcueil, near Paris

Show of force: Troops patrol around the Eiffel Tower as France raises its terror threat to its highest level after the Charlie Hebdo atrocity

High alert: Military personnel patrol the Gare de L'Est railway station France's Vigipirate terrorist security plan was placed at it's maximum level

Investigator inspect the scene after an attack at a kebab shop near the el Houda mosque in Villefrance-Sur-Saone near Lyon

Said was freed after questioning by police, but – like his brother – was known to have been radicalised after the Iraq War of 2003, when Anglo-American forces deposed Saddam Hussein.

Both brothers were said to be infuriated by the killing of Muslims by western soldiers and war planes.

Vincent Olliviers, Cherif's lawyer at the time, described him as initially being an 'apprentice loser' - a delivery boy in a cap who smoked hashish and delivered pizzas to buy his drugs.

But Mr Ollivier said the 'clueless kid who did not know what to do with his life met people who gave him the feeling of being important.'

Losers: The brothers were once described as 'failed commandos', while Cherif's lawyer called him an 'apprentice loser' after he was arrested in 2005. Here, he is pictured in a 2007 video posing as a rapper

'Massacre': The gunmen are seen brandishing Kalashnikovs as they move in on the injured police officer from their vehicle outside the office

Gunned down in cold blood: Horrific footage shows the injured police officer slumped on the pavement as two of the gunmen approach. In a desperate plea for his life, the officer slowly raises his hand towards one of the attackers, who callously shoots him at point-blank range

Brutal execution: A police officer pleads for mercy on the pavement in Paris before being shot in the head by masked gunmen during an attack on the headquarters of the French satirical publication Charlie Hebdo, a notoriously anti-Islamic publication

Running away: Gunmen shoot dead a wounded police officer on the ground at point-blank range as they flee the offices of Charlie Hebdo

After his short prison sentence, Cherif was in 2010 linked with a plot to free Smain Ait Ali Belkacem, the mastermind of the 1995 bombing of the St Michel metro station in Paris that killed eight people and wounded more than 100 more.

Belkacem was a leading members of the GIA, or Armed Islamic Army – an Algerian terror outfit responsible for numerous atrocities.

Said and Cherif, both orphans, were born in Paris but grew up in foster care in Renne, Brittany.

They returned to Paris aged 18, when they moved to a council estate in Paris's 19th arrondissement. During this time Cherif was arrested for both drug dealing and theft.

With no direction or aspirations, the pair were quickly taken in by a gang known as Buttes-Chaumont, run by two Imams from northern Paris, one of whom was Farid Benyettou, a janitor-turned-preacher.

Grief: French police officer Philippe Brinsolaro (centre), brother of police officer Franck Brinsolaro, one of the victims of the attack by armed gunmen on the offices of French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo, observes a minute of silence in Marseille

Show of defiance: Journalists from the international press agency Agence France-Presse hold signs reading 'Je suis Charlie' (I am Charlie) at their headquarters in Paris as they observe a minute of silence for the victims of an attack by armed gunmen on the offices of Charlie Hebdo

Moving: Members of the European Parliament and citizens gather during a minute's silence for victims of the Charlie Hebdo shooting

In their memory: Flowers are laid outside the Charlie Hebdo newspaper offices in Paris a day after masked gunmen killed 12 in a terror attack

Hundreds of people gather on the Human Rights square in Saint-Denis de la Reunion in the Indian Ocean for victims of the massacre

Stronger together: Members of the French community gather in Melbourne in a show of solidarity to the victims of the Charlie Hebdo massacre

Journalists and supporters of press freedom hold signs reading 'Je Suis Charlie (I Am Charlie)' in Hong Kong in tribute to the victims

How the attack unfolded: This graphic shows the route taken by the gunmen who stormed the offices of Charlie Hebdo at about 11.25am

Louis Caprioli, former deputy director of the anti-terror unit at the French intelligence agency, described the gang as 'young hoodlums who became radical. They organised a network to get people to Iraq,' according to The Times .

The brothers were known to have been radicalised some time around 2003 after the second Iraq War, apparently infuriated by Western troops and jets killing Arabic soldiers.

They were arrested over their connection to the gang in 2005 amid rumours they were training to go to Iraq, though in reality all this involved was a daily jog.

Cherif's lawyer presented him in court as a man taken in by people 'who gave him the feeling of being important.'

Around this time he appeared on a French TV programme, apparently repenting for his crimes, and saying he had now become a rapper.

Footage, believed to be taken in 2007, shows Cherif wearing a cap, sunglasses, and performing music while dancing on stage alongside other artists.

However by 2008 he was back working as a fishmonger, and was again arrested trying to board a plane to Damascus while carrying an instruction manual on how to operate a Kalashnikov rifle, one of the weapons used in Wednesday's attack.

A police investigator inspects the scene after an attack at a kebab restaurant near el Houda mosque in Villefrance-Sur-Saone near Lyon

Emergency: Police officers and firefighters gather in front of the offices of Charlie Hebdo on Wednesday after gunmen stormed the building

Faces of the victims: Among the journalists killed were (l to r) Charlie Hebdo's deputy chief editor Bernard Maris and cartoonists Georges Wolinski, Jean Cabut, aka Cabu, Stephane Charbonnier, who is also editor-in-chief, Bernard Verlhac and contributor Philippe Honore

The Kouachis share similar backgrounds to Mohammed Merah, the 23-year-old French Algerian responsible for murdering seven people, including four Jews and three Muslim soldiers, in the Toulouse area in 2012.

Merah, who was himself shot dead by police, had also been left to operate as a terrorist in France, despite the authorities knowing he had trained with Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan.

Last year Mehdi Nemmouche, a 29-year-old French Algerian, was arrested in Marseille in connection with an attack on the Jewish Museum in Brussels which left four people dead. He denies any crimes, and is currently on remand in Belgium.

Nemmouche had also been able to travel to and from France to Syria, where he is known to have fought with ISIS terrorists.

At large: The gunmen are seen near the offices of the French newspaper Charlie Hebdo before fleeing in a car. They remain on the loose

Forensic experts examine the car believed to have been used as the escape vehicle by gunmen who attacked the Charlie Hebdo office

France remains on the highest terror alert and extra troops have been deployed to guard media offices, places of worship, transport hubs and other sensitive areas.

Vigils have also been held in Paris and in cities across the world in tribute to those killed in Wednesday's attack.

Many carried placards reading 'Je suis Charlie' (I am Charlie) in solidarity with the victims.

Eight journalists - including the magazine's editor - died along the two policemen, a maintenance worker and another visitor when the masked terrorists stormed the Charlie Hebdo offices in the 11th arrondissement of Paris.

TUNISIA KILLER GIVES 'POSSIBLE ISLAMIC STATE LINK' TO CHARLIE HEBDO ATTACK A French-Tunisian jihadist who assassinated two Tunisian politicians in 2013 provides a possible link between Charlie Hebdo suspect Cherif Kouachi and the Islamic State group based in Iraq and Syria, a researcher claimed yesterday. Boubaker al-Hakim is a member of the extremist ISIS group who last month claimed responsibility for assassinating two secular politicians, Chokri Belaid and Mohamed Brahmi, in Tunisia in 2013. He was previously part of the ‘Butte-Chaumont network’ in Paris - alongside Kouachi - that helped send fighters to join Al Qaeda in Iraq in the mid-2000s. Kouachi is wanted along with his brother Said for the deadly attack on satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo yesterday that left 12 people dead. Hakim ‘represents the link between the Kouachi brothers and (IS),’ said researcher Jean-Pierre Filiu, a leading expert on radical Islam at Paris's Sciences Po university. ‘It is impossible that an operation on the scale of the one that led to the massacre at Charlie Hebdo was not sponsored by Daesh,’ he claimed, using an alternative name for IS. No group has yet claimed responsibility for the Charlie Hebdo attack, ‘but it is certain that (IS) is closely following it and waiting to see how it ends,’ Mr Filiu told Agence France-Presse. ‘I am sure that the video claiming responsibility is already prepared.’ He added that Hakim is not a very senior figure in IS, but gained respect within the movement after killing Belaid and Brahmi. Hakim claimed responsibility for the murders in a video released last month that was filmed in IS territory somewhere in Iraq or Syria. Born in 1983, he is only around a few months younger than Kouachi and grew up in the same area of Paris - the 19th arrondissement - where the ‘Butte-Chaumont network’ was established. Both men were arrested and convicted together in Paris in 2008 for their role in the network. Hakim was sentenced to seven years for running a way station in Damascus for young French Muslims en route to fight US forces in Iraq. Kouachi received three years. ‘Hakim, and no doubt Kouachi, rejoined Al Qaeda's Iraqi networks after they were released from prison and accompanied them in their transformation into Daesh,’ said Filiu. ‘The combat experience they acquired was useful in the cOld-blooded assassinations they have carried out since.’ Advertisement

Life-threatening: An injured person is evacuated outside the French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo's office

Trail of destruction: Police inspect the damage after a collision between police cars at the scene during a firefight with Islamic militants

ARE PARIS GUNMEN FROM YEMENI AL QAEDA CELL BEHIND PLANE BOMB PLOTS IN THE U.S. AND BRITAIN? The gunmen being hunted by police over the Charlie Hebdo attack are believed to be from militant group Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). The group was established by Yusef al-Ayeri in 2003 in Saudi Arabia, but was forced to flee to Yemen after a series of attacks drove them back. Yemen's weak government allowed the group to rally and gain members, though they are only thought to have around 400 troops today. While their attacks initially focused on targets in the Middle East, such as an attempted suicide attack on Saudi Minister Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, they quickly spread to Western targets. On Christmas Day in 2009, they were implicated in the underwear bomb plot after Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was discovered on a Detroit-bound plane trying to detonate liquid explosives in his underpants. The following year AQAP also took responsibility for a plot to blow up two devices hidden inside printer cartridges loaded on to cargo planes travelling from Yemen to the United States. One device was discovered during a stopover at East Midlands Airport in Britain, while another was uncovered in Dubai. According to Stanford University the group is currently lead by Yemen-born Nasser al-Wuhayshi, who is an apprentice of Osama Bin Laden and was imprisoned for a time in Yemen, but escaped in 2006 along with 22 others. The group has a global jihadist agenda. Like ISIS, they aim to create a single Arab caliphate, covering Pakistan Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen and the Levant - the area encompassing Lebanon, Jordan, Syria and Israel. If Wednesday's attack is confirmed as coming from AQAP, it will be the first time the group has used lone-wolf style tactics, in which gunmen act alone or in small groups to attack targets. Advertisement

French soldiers disembark at Le Bourget Airport, north of Paris, as part of a deployment of soldiers to enhance security in Paris on Wednesday

Defiant: Stephane Charbonnier, known by his pen name Charb, was editor of Charlie Hebdo, and gunned down by men with assault weapons

Mr Charbonnier was named as one of nine men the extreme Islamist group were targetting (pictured centre right). Their photographs were printed alongside the caption 'a bullet a day keeps the infidel away'

The magazine angered Muslims by printing cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad, and its offices were fire bombed in 2011.

Editor Stephane Charbonnier, 47 and more commonly known by his pen name of Charb, had received death threats in the past and was living under police protection.

He was murdered alongside fellow cartoonists Cabu, Tignous and Wolinski.

Laurent Léger, a journalist who survived despite being at the Charlie Hebdo editorial meeting that was attacked, told Le Monde: ‘It was unreal, incomprehensible, in the middle of Paris, at a comic magazine.

‘I saw a masked man, a lot of blood, and half of the staff on the ground... I saw the horror... It was barbarism.’

Following the raid, the gunmen were heard shouting 'we have avenged the Prophet Muhammed' and 'God is Great' in Arabic ('Allahu Akbar').

In sombre TV address on Wednesday night, French President Francois Hollande said: 'Today the French Republic as a whole is the target.'

Today's national day of mourning is only the fifth held in France in the past five decades.

Tragic: Cartoonist Georges Wolinski was named by officials as one of those shot dead at the offices of Charlie Hebdo

Lead cartoonist Jean 'Cabu' Cabut (left) was among the 12 massacred by terrorists in Paris, along with Bernard 'Tignous' Verlhac (right)

Radio France chief executive Mathieu Gilet announced on Twitter that a contributor, Bernard Maris (above right) was another of the victims

Cartoonist Philippe Honore (left) was a regular contributor who was killed as well as Michel Renaud (right) who was guest editing the magazine

'We have to be stand strong with the international community': A visibly shocked French President François Hollande arrives at the scene, where he promised to bring those responsible to justice

'100 LASHES IF YOU DON'T DIE OF LAUGHTER': HOW CHARLIE HEBDO HAS BECOME A BYWORD FOR ANTI-ISLAMISM Charlie Hebdo has become a byword for offensive statements in France after taking several highly provocative swipes at Islam. The newspaper once named Prophet Mohammed as its guest editor, published cartoons of the holy figure in the nude, and once renamed itself Sharia Hebdo with the cover slogan '100 lashes if you don't die of laughter'. The controversy began in 2006 when the publication reprinted now-infamous cartoons of Prophet Mohammed by Danish artist Kurt Westergaard. When the images originally appeared they lead to days of protests across the Middle East and in Western cities. The decision to reprint the images landed the then-editor in court under anti-terror laws, though he was later acquitted. The Hebdo offices were burned to the ground in 2011 when attackers used Molotov cocktails to start a blaze early in the morning of November 2. There was nobody in the building at the time, and the target was instead thought to be the newspaper's computer system, which was completely destroyed. Riot police were forced to stand guard outside the building for days following the attack, as the editors took a defiant stance, choosing to reprint the cartoon images multiple times. In 2012 they again printed cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed as a deliberately provocative gesture while violent protests were taking place across the Middle East. The following year the newspaper's office again had to be surrounded by riot officers after they published a cartoon booklet depicting the Prohpet naked as a baby and being pushed in a wheelchair. On the final page of the booklet there was a note from the editor, Stephane Charbonnier, saying the images were 'halal' because Muslims had worked on them, and that they were factually accurate as they had been derived from descriptions in the Koran. The satirical publication, widely seen as France's answer to Private Eye, prides itself on a mixture of tongue-in-cheek reporting and investigative journalism. Hebdo's current office building has no notices on the door to prevent a repeat of the attacks that have occurred in the past. In an interview with De Volkskrant in January 2013, Mr Charbonnier revealed he had been placed under constant police protection for four months after one of the cartoon issues was published. He shrugged off criticism that he was only publishing the images to gain notoriety for Hebdo, and insisted that he was instead defending the right to free speech. Mr Charbonnier pointed out that the newspaper had poked fun at feminism, nuclear energy and homeland security, but the Islam issues always attracted the most publicity. Advertisement

HOW ATTACK ON CHARLIE HEBDO HQ UNFOLDED WEDNESDAY 10.25am: Mother with her young daughter is forced to allow gunmen into offices of Charlie Hebdo 10.30am: Terrorists call out editors by name before executing them, then exit the building 10.30am-10.50am: Gunmen leave the building in a black Citroen, driving up Allee Verte where they encounter a police car. They open fire, wounding a policeman - While trying to get to nearby Boulevard Richard Lenoir they encounter more police and exchange fire, nobody is injured - Once on the boulevard they see a policeman on the pavement and open fire before executing him as he lays on the ground 11am: The men crash their Citroen on Rue de Meaux and hijack another vehicle to continue their escape 3.30pm: Raids on apartments in northern Paris, including a home thought to belong to one of the suspects in Gennevilliers 5:30pm: The dead are named as Stephane Charbonnier, editor of Charlie Hebdo, along with Bernard Maris, Georges Wolinski, Jean Cabut, aka Cabu, Bernard Verlhac and contributor Philippe Honore 6pm: As darkness falls people take to the streets to hold vigils, holding up signs reading Je Suis Charlie - I am Charlie 10.41pm: Raids take place in Reim as riot police storm buildings of those linked to two suspects. Seven people, thought to be friends of the suspects, are arrested 11pm: Hamid Mourad hands himself in to police in Charleville-Mezieres after seeing his name on social media THURSDAY 12:31am: Police name shooting suspects as brothers Said and Cherif Kouachi 7.45am: Second gun attack in Paris in which a female police officer and a street cleaner are wounded 7.58am: Suspect arrested in connection with second attack, reported to be a North African man with an assault rifle. Another believed to be on the run 9.58am: Female police officer wounded in the second shooting dies at a hospital in Paris 10.34am: Police carry out a raid on a hotel near to where the second attack happened 10.39am: Officers surround a petrol station in Villers-Cotteret, northern Aisne region, after manager said he recognised gunmen 11am: A minute's silence takes place in memory of the 12 killed 11.10am: Surviving Charlie Hebdo staff announce magazine will be published next week 11.30am: Police surround a property in Crepy-En-Valois after suspects reported to be inside Advertisement