This morning, in Paris, two unknown gunmen dressed in jihadist clothing attacked the offices of French satirical cartoon magazine Charlie Hebdo, using what has been described as gunfire from assault rifles, and carrying a rocket launcher. The gunmen then fled the scene, shouting "Allahu Akbar".

Twelve people were killed including the editor of the magazine, Charb, also known as Stephane Charbonnier, the legendary cartoonists Cabu, Tignous and Georges Wolinski, other journalists at the magazine and two policemen, one of whom was shot in the head in the street outside. Seven more have been injured.

Charlie Hebdo is the French equivalent of the UK's Private Eye, publishing cartoons and articles satirising and criticising the most powerful in society and culture. Abrasively leftwing, it focuses on attacking extreme right parties, as well as focusing on religious extremism, whether Christian, Jewish or Muslim. In recent years, they also published a cartoon biography of Mohammed.

It has been reported as an Islamic terrorist attack, with gunmen calling out journalist's names before opening fire. Charlie Hebdo has run many articles and cartoons attacking ISIS and Islamic religious extremism, especially its leaders. In previous years, the magazine had been firebombed, but without fatalities.

President Hollande called it a terrorist attack "of exceptional barbarity" and the level of national security has been raised as police attempt to catch the killers. This is France's largest terrorist attack to date. And newsrooms across the country are currently under major security alert as well.

The gunmen are reported to be still at large, and there have been reports of gun battles with police taking place across Paris.

Ils ont tiré à deux reprises les balles ont traversé la porte et la fenêtre pic.twitter.com/Jhgi4MBlnp — yve cresson (@yvecresson) January 7, 2015

sortie des victimes de Charlie pic.twitter.com/LUydiDscED — yve cresson (@yvecresson) January 7, 2015